


Can't Cage Me In

by Turntechgodliness (AmberzillaRex)



Series: The LSCS Chronicles [6]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Fake AH Crew, Kidnapping, M/M, Psychological Torture, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-05
Updated: 2016-02-11
Packaged: 2018-05-05 04:16:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 26,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5361092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmberzillaRex/pseuds/Turntechgodliness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, being involved with the biggest gang in Los Santos involves some extra dangers. Sometimes, those dangers are being grabbed off the street in the middle of a heist. </p><p>Sadly, Gavin's use to it by now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The best part of waking up

**Author's Note:**

> Here's the next part of the Los Santos Crime Series. Let me know if you enjoy it!

People always expected to either wake suddenly from unconsciousness, sights and sounds too sharp to make out for a few moments of dazed confusion, or in a slow build up where all your senses came back to you one at a time. For Gavin, who had been knocked unconscious more times than he could count, it was more of slow realization that he was no longer in a void of black before everything hit him at once, a cacophony of noise and lights and smells that assaulted him as he attempted to make sense of his surroundings. It didn’t leave him dazed, but it did often leave him with a headache and a lot of anger at having gotten himself involved in whatever situation he found himself in. 

It was in such a situation he found himself now; slowly opening his eyes to a pounding headache, a cold tightness around his wrists that he instantly recognized as metal shackles and the sticky, nauseously cloying sensation in the back of his throat that he always got from chloroform. His vision was blurry as he opened the eye that didn’t appear to be swollen shut, letting out a soft groan as any form of movement seemed to send shocks of pain through his body as he attempted to sit up. He was sitting on what appeared to be a stripped cot, the mattress worn and stained with god only knew what, the strong smell of old blood and piss greeting his nose. Glancing around, he took stock of the room he was in- or rather, cell. There were no windows, just stark, cold concrete walls and a steel door with a small slot, out of which a small stream of fluorescent light flooded into the room. Shifting on his cot, Gavin winced as his entire body protested the movement, a sharp throb in his ribs and back bringing to notice that he had most likely been kicked several times while he was out cold. He couldn’t hear any noises from the hallway outside his cell door, and as he shifted to get off the cot, he noted that the chains attaching his shackles to the wall were longer than expected, long enough to allow him to slowly stumble his way to look out the slot of the door. A white, empty hallway greeted him, devoid of any people, and he cursed under his breath, leaning against the cool metal. 

“Well this is bloody fantastic.” He kicked at the door, cringing as a sharp pain shot up his leg, and moved back to the cot to settle against it. He tried to remember how he had gotten kidnapped, wracking his brain in an attempt to recall where he had been before everything had gone black. He had been running out the back of the Jefferson street bank, trying to keep low as his focus was on the firefight towards the front of the building. He assumed that had been when they’d jumped him, whoever ‘they’ were; while he was trying to keep tabs on the rest of his crew. He let out an angry huff, settling carefully on his back as he assessed his situation. He had no idea who had taken him, no idea where he was. He seemed to be alone, though he knew that there was no way that was the case; there had to be someone there, keeping tabs on him to ensure he didn’t escape. Not that there was much chance of that; he thought as he tugged on the chains, frowning as they clanked loudly in the empty room. There was nothing else in the room besides the cot; no place for him to use the washroom, no other furniture, nothing at all. The room was chilled, not quite cold but not warm, either, and it felt like the sort of cold that came with a room being underground. Which meant he was probably in a basement of some sort; which helped to narrow his relative position in whatever building he was in down a bit. He still had his watch and, according to it’s still ticking face, he’d only been out for maybe half an hour or so, so there was no way he was far from where they’d been heisting. He had full confidence that the others would have realized that he was gone, that they would find him; there was no way these people were smarter than his boys. 

Outside the room came the sound of heavy footsteps, and he leapt to his feet, ignoring the pain and rushing to the door to peer out. A man was standing outside of his cell now, short but muscular and young, in all black with a pair of sunglasses obscuring most of his face. Frowning, Gavin leant up on his tip toes, hands grasping at the bars of the small window as the man stared at him, still silent. 

“Well hello there, mister sunglasses. Have you come to tell me what your demands are? I’ve been awake for a bit now, didn’t you know it was rude to keep your hostage waiting?” His voice was perky, his whole demeanor ditzy, and he could tell that it threw off the man as he glanced down the hall and then back at Gavin. “Ah. A guard are you? Did they not tell you why you’ve got me locked up here? I’d really like to know, love. I am a curious sort.” The man hesitated, as though uncertain if he should speak with the prisoner, and Gavin offered him a small, shy smile. “It’s alright love, you don’t have to tell me.” He could sense that the man was probably new to his position; either a new hire, or the crew that had taken him just wasn’t that old. If he could work it right, he might be be able to get the man’s sympathy. He made himself appear smaller, sinking a little on the balls of his feet to make himself seem less dangerous, and fell back from the door. “It’s awfully cold in here.” He stated, wandering back towards his cot, not bothering to talk to the guard again as he was getting no response. He settled back on the cot, curling up against the wall and watching the door warily, waiting. Nothing happened for several minutes, until the door swung open, Gavin not even having heard footsteps approaching. 

“Alright, get up.” He looked up, frowning some as he took in the man standing before him- tall, lank and rat faced, the sort of underling that felt he had something to prove in Gavin’s experience. He shifted, sitting up on the cot as the man made an exasperated sound, striding forward to pull him up roughly from his spot. “Now, shithead. The boss wants to see you.” Gavin rose a brow, tugging on the chain attaching him to the wall some and letting the clanging ring through the room. 

“Sort of hard when I’m locked to a wall, innit?” The man scowled, reaching to slap Gavin across his face with the back of his hand, disorientating him a moment as he reached to unhook the chains from the wall. 

“Shut the fuck up.” The man pulled the chains, hard, and Gavin tripped, falling to his knees as he glared up at him. The man seemed irrationally irate for someone who was, on appearance, prisoner retrieval; Gavin hadn’t even done anything to rile the man up yet. ‘Might as well fix that then.’ He thought, reaching to rub his sore shoulder.

“You know, you look like a rat. That is well unfortunate.” The man growled, and Gavin moved to get up. “Who is this boss, anyways? Or is it a surprise?” He took a step towards the door, not letting the man pull him too much as he moved. Rat, as he decided to dub him, gave him a shove out into the bright hallway, and Gavin took a moment to realize that he was no longer wearing his shoes, of all things, nor did he seem to have his own clothing on. “Aw, what, did someone undress me? Rude, take a lad to dinner first at least!” Rat made a disgruntled noise, and Shades moved to follow them down the hall, sticking a bit closer to Gavin than he really needed to, a heavy hand on his shoulder to guide him as they walked. The quiet guard reminded him a bit of Ryan when they’d first met, which gave him a small amount of hope; and he shifted a bit closer to him as he took in the directions of where they were going. His main marketable skill was his observance, and he wasn’t going to let himself down by not being such now. He noted the path they took, which doors lead into rooms he could see in and which lead to darkness as he was lead down a series of halls into a room that looked more like a dean's office than something from a crew’s hq. There was a large wooden desk and some plants, a bookshelf and a filing cabinet as well as a television on the far wall, large windows taking up most of the wall behind the desk. Gavin’s attention was drawn to the man seated at the desk, who looked as though someone had spliced Geoff and Kerry into one sad looking son of a bitch and given him a nasty, pompous look that was seared into his face. Gavin had to give him props for the eye patch though; that was a little too Nick Fury to be original, but still amusing. 

“Ah, there we are. Please, Mister...I’m sorry, I never caught your name. Please have a seat.” Gavin frowned, hesitating to sit for a moment before realizing that he was in no position to refuse. Sitting down, he glanced around, half his attention on the man in front of him and half on the two men standing behind him. 

“Don’t think I gave it. Don’t plan on it either, really. You can call me whatever you like I suppose. So what do you want, hmm? You wouldn’t just kidnap me if you didn’t want something. You’d have just killed me where I was.” The man raised a brow, and Gavin leant back in his seat, ignoring the way his muscles protested at the position. He needed to seem nonchalant; like the entire situation of him being kidnapped didn’t bother him in the slightest. It wasn’t like he hadn’t been through all this before; being involved in one of the best known crews, being seen as the weakest, clumsiest of them all, he was often targeted.

“No, I suppose I wouldn’t have, would I? I really don’t want much, Pretty Boy. I just want to know where Ramsey’s safe houses are. And I don’t think it’ll be much to get it from you, will it? You’ve been here for several hours now, he’s not even looking for you. Probably doesn’t care for you much, since he didn’t even have backup for you at the robbery.” Gavin snorted, leaning back in his chair and raising a brow. 

“Oh, no. You are completely right, Ramsey doesn’t give a blip about what happens to me. All this, just to find out where his safe houses are? Don’t you have a hacker, someone to track them down? That’s pretty lame, mate.” The man frowned, shifting in his seat and leaning forward to stare at Gavin.

“Don’t play with me, Pretty Boy. You know as well as I do that it’s practically impossible to hack into his system. Tell me where Ramsey’s safe houses are.” Gavin snorted, prideful at the man’s words and letting his head lull to the side to watch the man, taking note of the slight twitch in the man’s right eye as he smirked at him. 

“I’m not telling you shit. And they’re going to come for me, and when they do, you’re dead. So enjoy what’s left of your time, you bloody douche canoe.” He spat towards the man in the seat, a wide, careless grin on his face as Rat turned to him, slapping him hard across the face. He winced, his lip splitting at the force as he was pulled roughly from his seat and shoved towards the door. 

“I’ll see you again soon, Pretty Boy. Dooley, O’Reily, escort our guest to his room, please.” The two men nodded, and Rat grabbed Gavin by the arm, shoving him towards the door. 

“Right away, Corpirate.” Gavin frowned as he was lead back down the hallway, trying to place the man’s face to the name. He recalled Geoff showing him a picture of the man before; worried about the potential to run into him as they had foiled his jobs several times before. He shuffled into the cell he’d been in before, Rat dragging him to the back of the cell, attaching his cuffs back to the wall before turning to face him, a dark look on his face. 

“You think you’re the shit, huh? Think that Ramsey gives a fuck about you? I got news for you, asshole; no one cares about you in this business. No one.” Gavin wiped his arm across his bleeding mouth, smirk still in place as he moved to step into Rat’s personal space. 

“I feel so very sorry for you, love. You aren’t part of a very good crew if you think no one cares about their people in this business. Ramsey cares about me. And even if it takes him weeks to find me, even if you try to torture the information out of me, I’m not giving up shit. So you might as well tell your mighty boss that he hasn’t got a chance, and when the Mad Merc and Mogar come for you, I’ll be sure to tell them to show you just how much they care.” He reeled back as Rat swung a fist at him, elating a bit as Shades moved to grab his arm, a stern look on his face. 

“Boss won’t like you roughin’ him up first night.” Gavin shuffled back to the cot, sitting down and watching as Rat struggled with whether he should retaliate, stifling a chuckle as the man clearly decided it was better to leave it be then to take on the bigger man. Flipping him off, Rat stormed out of the room, and Shades hesitated a moment before moving to check the shackles on his arms. “If you just tell them what they want, they won’t hurt you too badly.” His voice was soft, and Gavin felt bad for him; he was gentle as he adjusted and tightened the cuffs some, and it made Gavin long for Jack’s own soft touch with prisoners. 

“Oh, my lovely little bespeckled lad. You must be right new, you must, if you think for one moment that they’re going to let me go at all. You are lovely, you are.” He shifted, pressing his back to the wall and tilting his head some as he watched the other man. “They’re going to kill me, if my crew doesn’t rescue my first. I’ll be nothing more than a pretty smear on the Corpirate’s messy floor. When they torture me, and they will-” he fixed the man with a look, “-I want you to watch carefully and take in the behavior of the men you work for. You seem an alright type, but they aren’t going to be nice to me.” He wrapped his arms around his legs, the reality of his situation sinking in as the man frowned. “They’re going to torture me for information, but they won’t kill me, not until they get what they want. But I’m not going to tell them dick all, they’ve got their bloody heads up their arses if they think I am.” He was firm, and both of them looked up at the sound of footsteps approaching. Shades stood up, moving to leave the room silently, and Gavin lay on his side, letting out a soft sigh. 

“C’mon, guys. I’m not exactly a damsel in distress yet but I could really use the rescue....”


	2. Five minus one

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should probably apologize in advance, I have no beta and I really should, since my words can sometimes get messed up...so if a sentence seems a little off, bear with me! (as I tend to not always think in english while I'm writing and my word processing skills occasionally suffer from seizures so sometimes sentences seem off) if you see anything off, please let me know so I can fix it!

“God DAMN it. How the fuck did we not realize he wasn’t with us?” The heist room was a mess, duffle bags tossed haphazardly into a corner, their loot spilling onto the ground as Michael slammed his hands down on the table. Geoff sat in silence, a drawn look on his face as he watched Michael's explosion take place with only the slightest of twitches to show that he had been startled at the loud noise of hands on wood. Ray shifted in his seat to lean away from the outburst as Michael seethed beside him, his entire face red with anger as he glared around the table at the other four men.

“I think the massive firefight might have had something to do with it, Michael. Sit down and calm your shit, jesus christ. We need to figure out where he’s at and get him back.” Geoff sounded exhausted as Jack set a mug of water down in front of him, running a hand over his face before taking a drink from the mug and frowning at its contents. He nodded to Ryan, pushing the cup back to Jack again before letting out a slow breath.. “I assume we still have the track on him, yes?” Ryan nodded, holding up the small pda that kept track of the crew’s movements. Too many times of losing Gavin in back roads and god knew where else had lead to the idea of team trackers; little tracking devices that were placed in the titanium rings the crew wore. The original idea was to get one just for Gavin- the man could get himself lost in a grocery store if left alone to his own devices, but Geoff had only been able to convince him to go along with the idea by agreeing to have all of them be tracked.

“We do, but the signal’s pretty weak. He’s either underground or far enough away that it’s having a hard time pin pointing exactly where he’s at. It’s going to take me a bit to isolate a location.” Ryan set the pda on the table, taking a look around at the crew. They all looked spent; Michael had a black eye and Ray was favoring his left arm where he’d been grazed by a bullet during their escape. “You guys should get some rest while I work on this; we won’t be any use to Gavin if we’re all dead on our feet.” Michael scowled, but Jack interrupted him before he could speak, placing his hand on the middle of the table to gain their attention. 

“Ryan’s right. I want the three of you to go get some sleep. No arguments.” Ray nodded, getting up and pulling Michael up as Geoff let out a soft groan, standing slowly as he flashed a look at Jack, looking him over as he rubbed his chin in thought.

“Yeah alright mom. Shit, I’m practically passing out as it is. Are you two going to stay up and work on that? Maybe you should sleep too....” He knew that both Jack and Ryan were more than apt at working through just about anything, but he couldn’t help but worry with Ryan staring hard at the pda while Jack frowned at him. 

“We’re fine, Geoff. We’ll only be a little bit, I want to see if we can isolate the trackers position before we come to bed. Okay?” Geoff frown and Jack shook his head, shooing them from the room and making sure they went down the hall before turning back to Ryan, who had already hooked the pda up to the secure laptop they used for heist planning. Moving to lean over the other man’s shoulder he let out a soft sigh, stroking his beard in quiet contemplation as he watched Ryan work, fingers flying over the keyboard with a little less confidence than Gavin himself tended to have when seated in front of a computer. Ryan was most likely the best person to take over Gavin’s usual job in his absence seeing as the Vagabond had tracked a lot of people over the years as a solitary mercenary, and Jack trusted his abilities. 

“How far out do you think they took him?” Ryan made a noise, clicking on the location that the gps provided to zoom in. The systems they ran were more sophisticated than most, built from scratch by Gavin and Lindsay with all the best electronics Geoff could buy them, but even their system needed time to focus in on the precise location of the tracker.

“I have a rough estimate as to where he is. It’s not really….far from here, per se, but it’s not giving me an exact to go on. It’s outside the city, but only by about twenty minutes. But if I’m right…” He frowned, and brought the area into-

“-Google maps, Ryan? Really?” Jack watched as Ryan set it into street view, snorting as the site took them to what appeared to be a bunch of old industrial warehousing. He watched as Ryan clicked around some, taking note of the general layout of the area. It looked as though a lot of the warehouses were out of business now; windows were boarded up and a good section of the largest complex seemed to have collapsed upon itself.

“It’s all warehouses. I don’t know if there’s been a lot of foot traffic here, but if Gavin’s been taken there then I can imagine someone must have some sort of base set there.” Jack hummed, reaching around Ryan to click around the more intact section of the base as far as the cameras would let him. There were no people caught on the camera, though Jack wasn’t surprised- anyone hiding out in the area would most likely have stayed away from anyone driving about the area in the very noticeable cars Google sent around. He pointed out a section to Ryan, getting him to zoom in on it.

“Most of these look pretty decrepit, but I think those three there might be habitable. You wouldn’t want to set up in a place where it looks like the floors are about to fall out from under you. We’re going to need to stake the place out, see what it’s like there first. I don’t want to run into an operation with three dozen gunmen without knowing what we’re up against. That’s an idiot’s errand and I’m not going to put everyone into danger that could be avoided by taking a little bit of time and doing some planning. “ Ryan nodded, and after a moment printed out the coordinates that they needed. He also printed off the photos of the warehouses that looked most promising, placing them on the pile as well before glancing at Jack. 

“We should see if Kdin can take a fly over the warehouses, see if he can get an idea as to the activity in and around it. It won’t be precise but it’ll be better than nothing. “ Jack nodded, already pulling out his phone to call the younger man as he patted Ryan’s shoulder before leaving him alone in the room to go make some calls. Ryan remained seated at the computer desk, rubbing his thumb over his knuckle and catching it on the ring that he wore on his left ring finger, the same as all the rest of the crew. The rings didn’t just act as tracking devices; they were also a symbol of their unity not just as a relationship, but as a crew. It had been a huge step for Gavin after his and Burnie’s divorce had gone through, solidifying his relationship with the others. He turned the ring on his finger, a small frown on his face as he thought about Gavin, kidnapped and alone, away from them. “We’re going to get you back, Gavin.” He clenched his fists, pushing himself from his seat and heading towards the door, turning some to turn off the light before he made his way down the hall towards the bedroom. Pushing the door open, he smiled a little as he noted that they had pushed both king sized beds together, all three of his remaining boyfriends piled onto the beds in a cuddle pile. He shucked his clothes, crawling in behind Ray and wrapping an arm around his waist, his mind on their missing piece. 

“We’re gunna get him back, right?” Ray sounded so young, and Ryan pulled him closer as Michael sniffled into Geoff’s shoulder. “We’re gunna get him back tomorrow, right Ryan?” Kissing Ray’s temple, Ryan let out a soft sigh as he rubbed his hand along Ray’s arm. It wasn’t common for one of them to get kidnapped, not really, but it wasn’t unheard of; it was, though, the first time since they had gotten together and it was understandable that they were shaken from it. 

“It might take a few days, we have to find him first. We have an idea as to where he’s at, and we’re going to get Kdin to take a look so we have an idea as to what we’re up against. But we’re going to get him back. I promise.” He kissed the back of Ray’s neck, the four of them looking up as Jack entered the room to strip down and crawl into the bed behind Geoff, reaching to wrap an arm around both Geoff and Michael from his position. 

“How the fuck did we not know he was gone? I always know where he’s at.” Michael’s voice was small, buried in Geoff’s shoulder still as he let out a harsh breath at the thought of Gavin having been grabbed off the street, off of the safe path they’d spent days planning out for him. “We just fucking got him, this is bullshit.” Geoff rubbed a hand along his back soothingly, kissing the top of his head as he let out a soft sigh. 

“Somehow they knew. We’re going to get him back though. No one is keeping him away from us for long, alright? No one.” Michael nodded some, and Jack cleared his throat from where he was curled around Geoff, his arm slipping as far over Michael as it could from his position.

“Kdin’s going to take a flight over the area Ryan and I found. It looks like it’s some old warehouses, just outside the city...should be easy enough for us to figure out a rescue plan. We’ll probably bring in the B team for it. The more hands the better.” Ryan made a sound of confirmation, pulling Ray a bit closer as he shifted them slightly towards the rest of the group. Ray sighed, shifting even more to press against Michael’s back, and the five fell silent for a moment, thoughts on Gavin. Jack’s voice cut through the quiet, voice soft in the night as he curled tighter around Geoff. 

“Let’s try to get some sleep. It’s a fresh start in the morning, and Gavin needs us at our best.” There was a chorus of affirmation, and as they fell into fitful sleeps, there was only one thing on their mind. Saving Gavin.


	3. Weak Link

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pssst. Hey. You guys should comment on this with anything that would be cool to see in the story. Comments pretty much fuel me to put out as much story as possible in the smallest amount of time...wink wink.

Morning came, and with it, the cold harsh reality of being kidnapped. 

Well, it was really a cold harsh splash of ice water, directly on his face and snapping him out of his sleep. Shooting up and sputtering as he wiped at his face, he looked around to see Rat standing over him with a bucket, a sneer on his face as he watched Gavin carefully. Glaring at the man, Gavin shifted to stand, hands on his hips as he took stock of the fact that Shades seemed to be standing just outside the door, watching in. 

“Get your ass up. Boss wants to see you again.” Rat’s sneer turned into a smirk, and he reached to unhook the chains again, pulling them hard as Gavin stumbled to keep balance. He walked in silence behind the two men, eyes on the ground as he tried to remain calm, listening as the two talked between them as they walked. 

“You know you left cell three unlocked last night? Lucky I found it, or you’d be in such shit, Jacob. You’re lucky I was guard last night, ‘cause Oakley would have ratted you out.” Shades voice was low, and Rat gave him a look before pulling Gavin in front of him to shove into the doorway of the room they had reached. It was different than the room from the day before; Gavin’s attention was immediately drawn to the chair in the middle of the room, to the plastic tarp spread under it and the tray set to the side. He knew this set up. He’d been the one spreading the tarp out numerous times, lining up the chair so Ryan could do his work without worry of much mess. 

“Get on the chair, Pretty Boy. Boss’ll be here in a minute and I don’t think he’s going to want to wait for you to get comfy.” Rat shoved him hard, sending him into the chair with a clatter, and Gavin let out a small noise before seating himself, glaring at the two men. Rat moved to strap him in, strapping his arms down along with the leather straps on the armrest of the chair before moving to his chest, pausing when a throat cleared behind him. 

“Let’s make our friend more comfortable, shall we O’Reily? He must be hot in that dirty shirt. Let’s rid him of it.” The Corpirate loomed in the darkness behind Rat and Shades, and Gavin struggled at the restraints as the man stepped into view, Rat slicing his shirt off before finishing restraining him. 

“You’re not getting dick all from me, I hope you know. So whatever you’re planning, it’s pointless yeah?” Gavin sneered at the three men, his eye catching Shades for a moment before the man turned away, moving towards the door. Rat tossed him a look and rolled his eyes, and the Corpirate moved to slap Gavin across the face hard enough to skid the chair slightly to the side. Gavin gave a soft groan, his cheek throbbing as Rat smirked down at him, taking a step back. 

“Oh, you’ll tell me where the safe houses are, Pretty Boy. You’ll sing like the pretty little bird you are, because I imagine you’re not one for being in pain. You don’t look the type to be able to withstand much torture, and to be honest I’d rather not have to. You’ve got a very special set of skills, I hear, and I’d much rather make you want to….stay.” Gavin winced at the almost sleazy tone of voice, watching the Corpirate as he moved closer to him, his hand reaching up to grasp Gavin’s chin firmly to turn his face to the side. The leer he fixed the Brit with put him on edge; he felt like a slab of meat, the way that he was being stared at-like he was some prize to be beaten into submission. 

“Or, you know, or I might not tell you anything, and you’ll get your face blown off by Michael when he gets here. Because if you think they aren’t coming to get me, you’re bloody mad. And not in a fun way like Rye-bread is.” The Corpirate’s smirk fell, and he reached to wrap a hand around Gavin’s throat as he leaned into his space, his fingers squeezing enough to restrict Gavin’s breathing. 

“You’ll tell me what I want to know, and then I’m going to make you wish you’d just told me what i wanted when I asked the first time, you little shit. No one’s coming for you. And even if they did, they won’t fucking find you.” Gavin grinned a little at the man’s loss of composure, a wide, manic sort of grin that stretched across his face. If the man was this quickly riled up, then he would be easy to manipulate. He most likely hadn’t dealt with a prisoner who didn’t immediately give in, and Gavin planned to use that to his advantage. 

“I’ll tell your mum how to suck eggs.” He stated, his cackle cutting off when the Corpirate lashed out at him. The older man slammed a fist into his stomach, causing him to wheeze into the laugh, coughing cutting him off as he tried to bend over the chair. He sucked in a breath of air, willing himself to block out the pain before looking up with a slight smirk, his eyes meeting the Corpirate’s own uncovered eye in defiance. “I’ll tell her you hit like a pussy too. It’s a right shame.” He saw the next punch before it was even thrown, ducking his head back a bit to take most of the punch to the square of his jaw like Ryan had taught him. 

“You might talk big, but you’re going to be a little more humbled when I’m done with you, I think.” The man turned to Rat and gestured towards the tray, which the smaller man rolled to him with a sadistic grin, eager to watch as he picked up a small hammer. He turned it over in his hand, moving to stand closer to Gavin than he liked, reaching to stroke a hand down his arm to rest on his wrist, squeezing it hard to keep it in place as he raised the hammer high. “Last chance before the pain starts, boy. Where are Ramsey’s safe houses?” Gavin scowled, leaning forward and drawing him in some before spitting in his face, bracing himself before Corpirate brought the hammer down hard on his hand. He clenched his jaw, trying not to cry out at the pain, but couldn’t help the yelp that escaped as the man did it again, his hand crunching audibly as he felt it break. “Would you like to tell me now?” The fake kindness in the man’s voice caused Gavin to scoff through the soft pants as he tried to keep his breathing steady, and the Corpirate scowled as he slid his hand up Gavin’s arm, tracing over the soft muscles of his arm and up to his collar, resting a hand there to stroke his thumb over the sharp bone. “I could make that the only pain you have to endure, my pretty little bird. This doesn’t have to go much further if you’ll just tell me.” Gavin shook a little, adrenaline and pain taking over as he lowered his eyes, muttering something under his breath. The Corpirate leant in, brow furrowed as he tried to hear Gavin’s words. Waiting until he was as close as possible, Gavin surged forward as much as his restraints would allow him, smashing his forehead into the mans nose before speaking again. 

“I said I’m not your pretty little bird, asshole. Ryan’s going to absolutely skin you alive. I hope he does it slowly.” The Corpirate’s face twisted in anger and pain, and he brought the hammer down on Gavin’s shoulder, reveling in the way the younger man cried out in agony as he struck him, at the slight popping sound Gavin’s shoulder made under the force of the hammer as he struck him again. Taking a step back, he reached for something on the tray, and Gavin let out a soft noise as he tried to shift his shoulder, realizing that it was most likely out of place from how it throbbed. He watched the Corpirate carefully, frowning when the older man turned around empty handed, a smirk gracing his lips as he gestured to the two men at the door instead.

“Let’s take our guest back to his room, shall we? Dooley, if you will?” He stepped back, whispering to Shades before the other man moved to unstrap Gavin, helping him to his feet before turning to half pull and half drag him out the door, more gentle than Rat but still not as gentle as he’d hoped the other would be in comparison. He let himself be dragged back down the halls, his entire body throbbing in pain as he tried to stay focused on what was happening around him. The pain radiating from his hand was insane, and he nearly threw up more than once as they made their way back to his cell, moving almost immediately to lay on the cot as Shades deposited him on the mattress and reattached his chains to the wall behind him. The other man stood silently over the cot for a moment, glancing back towards the door before moving to sit on the edge of the bed, reaching to look over Gavin’s injuries. 

“You should just tell him, you know. He’s going to start with psychological torture after this, you...you sort of took that like a champ. I’m a little impressed. All our, uh. All our intel stated that you were sort of the weakest of the crew...I think our intel was wrong though, huh?” He flashed Gavin a small smile, and Gavin shot a shaky one back. 

“I’m not exactly the strongest member of the crew, but I have my moments. And I have no intentions of betraying them, so whatever he plans on doing to me, it’s not going to work. They’re my family. “ Shades nodded some, tearing a strip of fabric from the thin blanket on the cot to wrap the broken hand in before getting up. 

“I can see that. I’m sorry you’re stuck in all this though...you seem nice enough.” Gavin gave a broken chuckle, moving to lean against the wall again as he tilted his head to watch the man back towards the door. He frowned some, curling into himself a bit as he watched the other man pause at the door and glance back at him.

“So do you. How’d you wind up working for the Corpirate?” Shades shrugged, reaching for the door and opening it, taking a look out before turning back to Gavin. He studied him a moment, as though trying to see if the question was a trick, before replying, his brows furrowed as though trying to figure Gavin out.

“A whole lot of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, really. Good luck with round two later.” With that, the other man left, leaving Gavin alone in the dark cell, nothing but the throbbing in his hand to keep him company.


	4. Kdin's News

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter's going to be potentially a bit slow coming out, possibly not till middle of next week- I have been having problems with my appendix and depending on how the next few days go I might have to take a little bit of time off writing. Sorry lovelies!

“What do you mean, there’s a tank there?” 

Geoff’s voice was strained, cracking with the effort it took to keep his composure as he stared down Kdin, arms crossed over his chest as the pilot shifted nervously in his seat. He had shown up at noon, sliding into the seat between Ray and Michael on the couch as he called for Geoff and Jack to show up for his debriefing, Ryan already settled in the arm chair next to the couch watching the remaining Lad’s attempt to distract themselves with a game of Mario Kart.

“I mean, It’s not a big tank. It’s just a small one. But it could cause trouble down the line when we do our rescue. We’ll have to take it out first.” Geoff ran a hand through his hair, frowning as he leaned forward on his chair, quiet in thought for a moment before responding to Kdin’s words. 

“Is that something we could do now? Or is this something we need more than just us for?” Kdin thought a moment before shaking his head, crossing his arms over his chest as he frowned. Geoff trusted Kdin; the younger man had been a member of the B Team for years now, and was one of the best pilots he’d seen around. He knew that Kdin would have taken into account any dangers while doing his fly over, that he would have taken notes as to what could hinder them in their rescue.

“I don’t think it’d be too smart to just barge on in without at least a little backup, Geoff. I mean, Michael can probably sneak in on his own, but I don’t really think you want to send him in there without backup in case he, you know, gets caught. That explosion isn’t exactly going to be stealth...and if we aren’t just be rescuing Gavin but Michael as well... well, it’ll be a messy situation as it is, you know?” Geoff nodded, and Jack shifted in his chair, reaching for his glass of water and taking a sip before clearing his throat. 

“What if we get the RT Crew in on it with us? You know Burnie will insist on helping once he finds out that whoever this is has Gavin. He’s going to demand to let us help.” Geoff sighed at the thought of bringing Burnie in, but didn’t move past leaning on his elbows, watching Kdin a moment as he thought the situation over. There were benefits to bringing Burnie in; the other man certainly had the gun power to lend them, and god only knew what information he might have access to that they didn’t. But there was also the added risk of Burnie taking Gavin’s kidnap hard, as they had only recently been involved with each other. Burnie was usually cold and calculating when he had to be, but somehow he played things more risky when someone he cared about was involved. 

“They’re definitely able to provide man power, and I know Burnie will help, but I’m a little worried about what might happen if we just storm on in there. We don’t know exactly where they’re keeping Gavin; for all we know, as soon as we step foot into their base, they might execute him. They could know we’re onto them. We have to go about this carefully…” He frowned, pulling his phone out and scrolling through his contact list. “We’ll have to strike it all at once. Have Michael blow the tank while we storm the warehouses after we find out where they’re keeping Gavin. Maybe get Lindsay in to hack their system.” The group nodded, Michael already on calling the red haired hacker that they occasionally worked with having paused his game with Ray when Kdin had started talking, as Jack pulled up Burnie on his own cell. Geoff ran a hand over his face, placing his phone on the table and taking a deep breath as he tried not to think about what might be happening to Gavin, what whoever had him could do in the period of time it would take them to organize. 

“Alright. Linds will be here in about an hour, she’s just finishing up with something for Barb and she’ll be right over. I didn’t tell her what was up yet, don’t want Barb to freak or anything. No one needs that while we’re working on rescuing Gav.” Michael set his phone on the table, and Geoff nodded as Jack moved to leave the room and go into the kitchen, speaking softly to Burnie as he went. 

“Alright, Kdin. Did you see any other airplanes in the area? Helicopters, jets, anything that could cause us problems in the long run?” Kdin shook his head, stretching out some as Michael moved to go into the kitchen with Jack. Ray shifted to give him more space on the couch, pulling his legs up under him as he turned to pay more attention to the pilot, who gazed thoughtfully at the ceiling as he spoke.

“I didn’t see anything, no. Also didn’t see anything that could house any sort of aircrafts or anything, either. And I’m pretty sure that there’s just one of the warehouses being used. I didn’t see any activity in any of them except one. So that should help narrow it down.” Geoff nodded, shifting in his seat as he thought that over. If they only had to hit one warehouse, it would be a lot easier to move stealthily into position before they struck; and if they could get any information about just what was hidden in the area, then they could hopefully pull the rescue off with as little surprises as possible.

“Good. That makes it a bit easier for us to find him then.” The group fell silent as Michael and Jack returned, Michael cradling an armful of beer that he passed around, giving Ray and Ryan soda instead. Jack sat back down, putting his phone on the table as well, opening his beer and taking a sip before speaking as he cast them a tired look. 

“Burnie’s pissed we didn’t call him last night. But he’s going to help us, and he’s pretty much promised to slaughter whoever took him so...yeah. We have their help.” Geoff chuckled a little, opening his beer and taking a long drink from it before wiping his hand across his mouth. 

“Great. He’ll have to get in line for that. We’ll get started on this when Lindsay gets here.” The group nodded, and Ray flicked on the t.v for background noise. Kdin shifted in his seat, opening his mouth to speak before closing his mouth again, trying to figure out how he wanted to word what he wanted to ask before turning to Geoff, a frown on his face. 

“Can I ask what exactly happened? I mean...you guys aren’t exactly the most careful of heist goers, but I don’t think any of you ever got kidnapped in the middle of one. “ Geoff sighed, leaning forward in his chair as he cast a glance around the room, noting that Michael was staring hard at the beer in his hand as he sat on the arm of the couch close to Ray. 

“Well, first off, no matter what any of us think-” he gave Michael a firm look as he spoke, “-it wasn’t anyone's fault. Gavin is a grown ass adult and can look out for himself so obviously whoever took him got the drop on him. He was working the security room while we broke into the vault, and he was on his way out...whoever took him must have grabbed him as soon as he got outside, because Ray didn’t see them at all. It’s like they were fucking invisible, Kdin.” Kdin frowned, leaning back on the couch to think a moment before he gave Geoff a confused look. 

“But if they knew you were there, knew Gavin was going to be taking that specific route...doesn’t that seem weird to you? Like somehow, this gang knew in advance what you guys were doing?” Geoff paused, and beside him Jack and Ryan stiffened. Ray shot a glance at Michael, who looked as though someone had just informed him that he wasn’t allowed to blow things up any more, and the room fell silent for a long moment as they contemplated Kdin’s words. 

“You think...someone sold out the plan?” Jack asked, voice soft in the deadliest of manners. Kdin winced, turning his attention to Geoff’s right-hand man as the red-head turned the words over in his mind, watching the pilot. 

“I think it sure seems like it could be a possibility, doesn’t it? There’s no way they just stumbled on Gavin’s escape route. Not when you all went out of your way to plan the safest escape for Gavin...which we all know you did.” There was a moment of silence, a moment of silent looks and concerned frowns, before Geoff cleared his throat, gaining everyone's attention. 

“We’ll look into it immediately. If someone sold us out...if someone sold Gavin out, we’ll find them.” There were silent nods all around, and as Geoff leaned back in his chair some, Ryan’s soft voice cut through the silence. 

“We’ll find them, and then I’m going to skin them alive.”


	5. It's not Torture, It's...no wait it's still torture

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a little bit of extra violence in this chapter courtesy of Rat. I clearly do not know what to do with myself when my wife is away so there will probably be another chapter in the next few days, whups. Also I'm trying to convince my friend to draw pictures of this to put in but she's refusing because she's a butt D:

Days had passed, at least it felt as much, and Gavin hadn’t seen nor heard a soul outside his door. 

Everything hurt -an all over aching, throbbing pain that came from being mostly inactive in a cold room- and he didn’t have the energy to move as he lay on the cot, his broken hand clutched to his chest as he stared at the cement wall of the cell. He was starting to wonder if the others might not have been able to find him; if maybe he was too far underground for the tracker in his ring to work. Everything was starting to feel unreal; for the amount of time he’d been trapped in the room he was in, he didn’t see anyone. Didn’t talk to anyone. All the lights were kept off in the hallway now, the entire room dark around him, and the only thing keeping him in the mindset that they hadn’t outright abandoned him was the tray of food that appeared every so often and disappeared while he slept. Usually it was oatmeal, sometimes he’d get a bowl of fruit that had to have been sent by his silent guard, as he didn’t think Rat would go out of his way to get food that would taste good for him.. He had taken to pacing his room when he did have a bit of energy to spare, leaning against the door to look out into the empty, dark hall every so often before making his way back to his bed to curl up in silence again.

“Is there anyone out there?” He was sitting with his back flat to the wall where his cot was, watching the window with his arms crossed over his legs which were pulled to his chest. He knew what they were doing; isolation could sometimes be a worse torture than physical torture. And for someone who needed to be given attention, needed to interact with people….this was killing him. He moved to lay on his stomach, wincing as suddenly, a loud, blaring siren went off just outside his door. The sound had started happening at random earlier that day (or Gavin assumed it was day, if his internal clock was anything to go by), and Gavin felt like he was beginning to lose his mind whenever it started up. It cut through the silence like a knife, a loud wail that felt like a brick to the head every time it started up. Scrambling up, he grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around his head, trying to block out the sound as lights started to flash, a new addition to the siren. He whimpered, the sudden noise and lights drilling into his brain and causing him to feel like his head was exploding as he tried to bury himself in the mattress. As suddenly as it started, it stopped with a single bright light left on; Gavin carefully peeled back the blanket, blinking as the door to his cell opened. 

“Hey there, Pretty Boy. Are you ready to talk to me yet?” The Corpirate stood over him in a simple suit and with a smile that made Gavin’s skin crawl, his arms crossed over his chest as he watched the younger man. Gavin shook his head, hands still pressed over his ears as he watched the man carefully, unwilling to trust him as he shifted against the wall behind him. 

“No. M’not telling you anything.” The man’s smile fell, and he leaned down to grasp Gavin by the hair, pulling him towards him roughly and forcing him to look at him. Gavin winced, taking in the dark circles under the Corpirate’s eyes, the way his brows furrowed in frustration as he stared down the hacker. Gavin could see the stress in the man’s features, how stiffly he held himself as he tried to maintain a calm control over himself. It was fairly obvious that he hadn’t expected Gavin to hold out this long; something Gavin felt a swell of pride at.

“Are you sure about that?” Gavin growled, trying to pull away from the Corpirate as he leant closer still. There was no way he was going to give the man anything; nothing that he thought he could do would make him betray Geoff. He gave the man a blank stare, expressionless and cold as the Corpirate sneered down at him.

“Positive. You can do whatever you want to me, I’m not telling you a thing. So you can just sod right off.” He glared at him, reaching up to attempt to push the man away, wincing slightly at the pain of the hand in his hair pulling hard before letting go, shoving him hard into the wall as the other man straightened up. Gavin pressed his back to the wall, eyes firmly on the Corpirate even as he kept an awareness of the shadows in the doorway, faint outlines of his two guards in the hall.

“You’ll regret that, Pretty Boy.” Corpirate growled, backing his way out the door with a sneer. Gavin moved, quicker than expected, and tried to get to the door, letting out a grunt as he slammed to a halt, the shackles jolting him back slightly as he let out a cry, inches from the man who was holding him captive. The Corpirate smirked, standing just outside his room, taunting him as the Brit tried to reach towards him, growling under his breath. 

“I’m going to make you regret ever coming near me, ever even thinking about capturing me. You’re going to die horribly and I’m going to laugh as I walk on your bloody corpse, you smegging dickwad.” The Corpirate laughed, turning to leave, and Gavin let out an animalistic cry, struggling against the chains holding him back. “You’re going to die, and I’m going to go home and no one’s ever going to think about you again!” Even as his captor disappeared down the hall, he struggled a bit longer before his legs gave out, his body crumpling to the ground as he panted heavily. There was no way he was getting out of the room with his wrists still clasped in the shackles. His wrists were already rubbed raw from the heavy metal encircling them, bleeding every time he strained against them, and though his wrists were slick with blood he couldn’t slip them out of the shackles. He slunk back to his cot, noting that they left the door open this time around, the lights flickering a moment as he sat before blinking out again. He settled back onto his cot, wincing as a bright light lit up the hallway once more, and he squinted at the door as he watched a figure move at the end of the hall. Curling up on his side, he watched as the figure came closer, pausing outside his door, a shadow from the bright light shining behind them. 

“You should have just told him.” Gavin perked up slightly as he recognized the voice. Sitting back up, he slid off the cot, shuffling his way to the door while shielding his eyes, his body protesting each movement as he tested the limits of his chains.

“Shades? Issat you, love?” He was hopeful. The other man had at least treated him with a semblance of kindness, and while Gavin didn’t expect much, he held onto a slim hope that he’d talk with him a moment or two before leaving him in silence once more, alone with nothing but his thoughts.

“I’m not...suppose to talk to you. I’m just supposed to guard you and man the light. O’Reily is in charge of the siren….we’re suppose to keep you up.” Gavin leaned against the wall, trying to shield himself from the light as he frowned some at the quiet words. He’d assumed that was the case; it seemed more the Corpirate’s M.O, from what Gavin had seen in the few meetings he’d had with the man thus far. It was cleaner, psychological torture- less physical clean up and longer lasting in most cases. He could understand why someone would use it, since it was easier to pull information from a broken mind at times; and in the words of Ryan, it took more talent to break a mind than a bone.

“And he thinks this is going to make me tell him what he wants? I don’t think so.” Shades chuckled slightly, and Gavin peeked around the wall at him. “What’s your name? I’ve been calling you Shades but I imagine you have a proper name.” The man chuckled, and Gavin flashed him a small smile, face half hidden by the door frame. 

“Jeremy. I uh. Never did get your name.” Gavin gave him a half smirk, rattling his chains a little as he snorted, and Jeremy gave him a sheepish look before turning his gaze down the hall. He seemed wary of catching Gavin’s eye too often, and Gavin couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps the shorter man was beginning to regret his choice of bosses.

“I’m not going to give it to you, either. If I tell you, you’ll tell your boss. Can’t have that love, sorry. Girl’s gotta have her secrets and what not.” Jeremy frowned, and Gavin’s smirk softened some. “It’s not anything against you. You’ve been a lovely little captor, I promise. But I can’t let him win, you know? Got to keep my boys safe.” Jeremy nodded though he still looked a bit put out, and Gavin groaned as the siren went off again, Jeremy’s hands raising to his own ears as he watched Gavin fall to his knees, grasping at his head in agony at the piercing wail. 

“Please go back to your cot.” Jeremy hollered over the sound, pointing at the cot as Rat made his way down the hall. Gavin scrambled to his feet, but before he could make his way to the cot Rat entered the room, raising his pistol to bring it across Gavin’s face, causing him to drop to the floor in pain as he clutched at his jaw. 

“Little shit fucker. Get on the goddamn cot or I’ll blow your brains out.” Gavin struggled to move to the bed, and Rat smirked as he grabbed him by the chains, hauling him to his feet again. “Actually, no. Get over here, bitch.” He had no choice but to let himself be pulled in front of the angry man, and couldn’t do anything against being forced to his knees, Rat’s gun pressed against his cheek. “You’ve been here a week, bitch. You think anyone's still looking for you, Pretty Boy? I think you’re better off just telling the boss what he wants to know. Don’t you?” Gavin opened his mouth to reply, but gave a startled grunt as the barrel of the pistol was pressed into his mouth, causing him to gag. “Aw, what, is that not comfortable? Pretty boy like you, I thought you’d be use to having things in your mouth.” He jammed the gun in further, and Gavin could feel himself trying to vomit around the barrel. Behind Rat, Jeremy grunted, unable to help without bringing down trouble for himself. “You don’t know how badly I want to fuck you up. God, if I had ten minutes alone with you without consequences….” He jammed the gun hard into Gavin’s mouth before pulling it free, bringing his foot up to press to Gavin’s chest, pushing him away with a hard kick. “Pathetic.” He turned, storming out the door, and Jeremy followed after him with a quick look to Gavin as he pulled himself gagging back onto the cot, tears of fury leaking down his cheek as he laid down on his side. The siren continued, painfully loud, and Gavin wrapped his arms around his head best he could, whimpering. His head was killing him, and he was beginning to have a hard time concentrating with the lack of sleep he’d been having the past few days. He wiped his arm over his face, wrapping his blanket over him until the light and the siren were muffled some, and tried to tune out the world. 

They had to be coming for him. They had to be.


	6. Solutions Drive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whups, I meant to have this up on Christmas but here we are. Enjoy this. Ignore my butchering of Lindsay.

Geoff was not a happy man. Gavin had been held hostage for a week. A week of Kdin and Jack making runs over the warehouse that they were (almost totally) sure held their hacker. A week of Michael on edge, cursing and swearing up a storm as he made sure over and over that he had all the materials he needed to blow the tank. A week of Ray disappearing into Gavin’s study, sitting at his computer and trying to hack his way into Gavin’s messages (with little success). A week of Ryan disappearing in the middle of the day, not returning for hours at a time. Gavin had been gone a week, and the crew was starting to fall into disarray. Geoff himself had started his day with a large glass of whiskey, his patience running thin in regards to waiting for Kerry and Lindsay to get back to him on if Gavin’s tracking device would be readable any closer to the warehouse. He was tired of waiting; he didn’t even want to think about what Gavin’s captors had been doing to him, didn’t want to think of the possibility that he wasn't still alive and waiting for them to come rescue him. 

“We got him.” Lindsay’s entire presence was fierce, as frustrated and upset over Gavin’s kidnapping as the crew was, and she stormed into the living room where Geoff sat like a majestic Valkyrie intent on divine retribution as she slapped a photo down onto the table in front of him Leaning forward, Geoff picked up the paper, looking it over as he took in the markings in red ink. “He’s somewhere just below ground level, these old warehouses have a lot of lead in the foundation so that’s what made it hard for the tracker to pick up the signal. But he’s definitely there, and he’s definitely alive. Burnie’s connections got us a name for who took him; it’s the Corpirate.” Geoff scowled, his thoughts turning to the last encounter he’d had with the man. He was a drug runner, not quite as big time as he had once been, now that the Fake AH Crew was running things, and they had crossed paths a few times during their run so far. He had money, and from what they had seen so far that money had been spent more on toys like the tank than actual manpower, which Geoff felt could work in their favor. “He’s got a man on the inside now, Geoff. Kid name Jeremy, he came to Burnie on his own and Burnie offered him protection for information. The guy says that Gavin’s still alive. He’s being held here, in the cells in this area-I guess it’s a lot of old office space that’s been converted, the guy went all out in making it his own little prison I guess. This Jeremy guy, he’s got us the layout, where Gavin’s cell is, he’s even seeing if there’s a way he can get us in contact with him somehow. I guess Corpirate doesn't invest much in security outside of his guards and some simple surveillance, he relies a lot on the location of the warehouse to stay off the grid. Shouldn’t be hard for us to perform operation rescue the princess.” Geoff nodded, settling back in his seat as he took a slow, steadying breath, his focus on the picture he was still holding. 

“Get everyone ready. We’re going to go get our idiot back.” Lindsay nodded, turning on her heel to go out into the backyard; presumably to gather up Ray and Michael. The two of them were crowded around the barbeque, Michael’s focus on the burgers he was cooking while Ray hovered behind him, barbecue sauce in hand.. Jack had forced the two of them to leave the heist room, worried that they would over work themselves in preparing and not be fit for the actual rescue attempt; the bearded man himself was sprawled over one of the patio chairs, a book in his lap that he was very clearly not reading as he watched the two lads. Ryan had re-appeared earlier in the day, his mask in place and splattered with blood, disappearing into the bathroom nearly an hour previous to shower before going into his bedroom. No one had wanted to barge in on him, though Jack had checked on him once to ensure that he hadn’t just collapsed in his bedroom, having run on fury and diet coke for the past week. He’d returned with a cell phone picture of Ryan passed out on his bed, mask on the floor and head buried in his pillows, and the group had decided as a collective to allow him to sleep. Lindsay stood in the doorway to the patio, watching the three men for a moment before clearing her throat, causing Jack to turn to look at her, offering her a small smile as she waved at him. 

“Hey, Linds. How’s the search going?” His voice was hopeful, his eyes on her as he shifted in his seat, and Lindsay gave him a wide grin, crossing her arms over her chest as she leant against the glass behind her. 

“Found him.” Jack nearly jumped out of his seat, eyes wide as he grasped onto the arm of the chair, almost unwilling to get overly excited even though he knew that Lindsay wouldn’t lie about something they’d all been waiting to hear. 

“You found him?” Ray’s voice was forceful as he spun to look at her with the bottle of sauce clutched to his chest, and Michael followed suit with the spatula in his hand, the two of them watching her expectantly, waiting for her to go on. 

“Yeah. We’ve got an inside man now, he’s given us a lot of information. He’s been trying to help Gavin since he decided to sell Corpirate out to Burnie.” Michael turned the grill off, putting down the utensil in his hand and making his way to Lindsay, swooping her up into a bear hug and spinning her around. 

“You beautiful fucking goddess. You fantastic, majestic woman. I love you.” His words were muffled in her neck and she let out a chuckle, wrapping her arms around his neck as Ray barreled into them, wrapping his arms around the two and joining the hug. 

“Barb might have some issues with that, but I’ll be sure to make note. Come on, Geoff wants us all inside for prep.” She swatted Michael’s shoulder for him to let her down, and the curly haired man turned to turn off the barbecue before following her inside. Ray and Jack followed as well, Jack hesitating before knocking on Ryan’s door, cracking it open to slip inside. Ryan was curled up in his bed, and Jack hesitated, unwilling to wake him when he had actually fallen asleep for once. His plan to slowly back out of the room was ruined when he backed into the door frame accidentally instead, knocking a picture frame off the wall and startling Ryan awake. 

“Jack?” The still half asleep man sat up, rubbing his eyes as he looked at Jack before shifting to get up, frowning some at the intrusion to his room. “What’s up?” Jack offered him a sheepish smile, rubbing the back of his neck as Ryan stretched. 

“I was coming to wake you up. We found Gavin. Well...Lindsay and Kerry found him, but he’s in the building we thought he was in, Ryan. We’re going to go get ready to rescue him.” Ryan stilled from his stretch, turning his gaze to Jack before dropping his arms, nodding. 

“Alright. Give me a minute to freshen up and I’ll be right out.” Jack nodded, making his way into the living room to spot Michael and Ray seated on the couch, watching Geoff as patiently as possible. Lindsay stood next to Geoff, shifting from foot to foot as she held tight to a manila envelope, pressing it to her chest as though scared someone would take it from her. Jack slid into the chair beside Geoff’s, reaching to squeeze the tattooed man’s knee lightly in encouragement and fixing him with a smile as Geoff looked over at him. He couldn’t help but notice how exhausted Geoff looked; he didn’t think he’d slept properly since Gavin had been taken, at least not for more than an hour or two at a time. While the kidnapping had taken it’s toll on them all, Geoff had taken it the hardest; Geoff had taken Gavin in even before they had all gotten together, back when he was introduced to the Brit as Burnie’s husband the slow motion cameraman. Geoff had known Gavin the longest, and Jack had been watching him slowly fall apart in the week since the younger man had been grabbed. 

“So we found Gavin?” Ryan’s voice was husky with sleep as he came into the living room, moving to slide into the spot on the couch between Ray and Michael as Lindsay gave an enthusiastic nod. She slid the papers from the envelope, putting them down on the coffee table for the others to see as she began to talk. 

“So, Jeremy, our guy inside? He was able to get me access to the blueprints of all the changes to the original blueprints Corpirate did. That’s this one here…” she slid one of the papers forward, highlighting the area that held the cell Gavin was being held in. “He says that the room Gav’s in is at the end of the main hall, the stairs down are at the opposite end. Not much in the way of guards down there; two guards apiece on rotating schedules, six guards in total. Shouldn’t be too hard to get him out once we clear the area.” Michael leant forward, peering at the picture a moment before pointing out a large room with an x in the middle of it. 

“What’s that?” He asked, peering up at Lindsay as the others took notice of the spot as well. Lindsay frowned, spinning the blueprint around to look at it before pulling two other pictures out from under the envelope. 

“Interrogation room. They’ve had him in there a lot lately, according to Jeremy. He wanted to mark it just in case they had him in there instead of his cell…” She slid one of the photos across the table, wincing some as Michael let out a loud curse as he picked it up. The photo was a grainy shot from a video feed, but the image on it was clear enough to be recognizable. The image was of a man seated in a chair, two men standing beside him as one of them held something in their hand. The item was too pixelated for him to be able to make it out, but Michael recognized the thin line leading from the man’s hand to a small box sat by the leg of the chair. 

“Fuck. I’m going to slaughter them.’ Geoff reached to take the photo from Michael at the shaky anger in the man’s voice. Peering at the photo, he took a slow, steadying breath before placing the picture on the table again. “What’s the other picture? Lindsay, give it to me.” Lindsay hesitated a moment before handing over the other picture, watching Michael carefully as he took it from her. His eyes scanned the image; Gavin, chained to a wall, clearly taken on a cell phone. The hacker looked barely conscious, his body laid out over the threadbare mattress of the cot, staring at whoever had taken the picture with one eye swollen shut, the other staring at the camera. His face was mottled with cuts and bruises, but he didn’t look broken. Michael pressed his fingers to the image of Gavin’s face, frowning some. 

“We’re going to do this right. We don’t want to risk them executing Gavin as we break in to get him. We’ll have to time it to Michael blowing the tank so that everything's happening at once.” Geoff’s voice was soft as he leant forward, his elbows on his knees as he looked around the table. “Jack, you and Lindsay stay outside the base, we’ll have her on a portable so she can observe the security system and keep our comms intact. You’re on get away driving, Jack, and I need you to be ready to hightail it the hell out of there as soon as we’re all back in the van. No staying back to blow the shit out of things, no murder sprees, we get Gav and we get out. Understood?” He fixed both Michael and Ryan with looks, waiting for them to nod before gesturing to the blueprint. “We’ll get Jeremy to get us access to the door system- swipe cards or codes or whatever. We already know that the Corpirate doesn’t have much in the way of security, probably didn’t think anyone would be able to find him out in the middle of that warehousing. We get in, we get out.” Ray shifted in his spot on the couch, raising his hand slightly to catch their attention. 

“So we aren’t going to murder this asshole? He took Gav. He deserves to pay.” Ryan hummed in agreement, and Geoff shook his head, holding up his hands. 

“Look. I know we all want to make this guy pay. He took Gavin, he’s hurt him...but right now? The most important thing is that we get our boy back. We can always come back to kill the Corpirate, but what matters is that we get Gavin back and we make sure he’s okay. If I find any of you going off on your own…” He looked around the table, his gaze falling on each crew member before returning to Lindsay, his lips pressed tight. 

“Kdin, Kerry and I all have the prep work done. We figured you’d want to go as soon as you knew, so we have all the guns hired, all the leg work done...all you guys have to do is show up.” Geoff shot her an appreciative look, and she offered him a smile as she gathered up all the pictures from the table. “I’m going to go make sure Barb has all the hires up to date on details, but I’ll be back. We’ll leave to go in for noon, since that seems to be when there’s the least amount of activity at the base. Michael, you’re going to be in on your own, so make sure you have enough ammo for if things go down before you rejoin us. Ray, there’s a water tower that you can grant cover fire from, and Ryan...you just, you do you.” She gestured at the usually masked man, and he nodded. “Geoff’s got a good plan with Jack and I being in the van; there’s no point in sending us in as well when it’s just as easy for me to track you from outside the base.” Jack shifted in his seat, letting out a hum of agreement at Lindsay's words. 

“Alright. You go to check on Barb and the troops, and we’ll meet up in twenty. I’m sure the boys have some prep they want to do before we leave.” The group nodded in agreement, and Lindsay gave a salute before spinning on her heel, marching off to the second floor of the base where the hired mercs were. Michael stood, pulling Ray with him as the two of them started off towards Michael’s room, and Geoff sighed as he pulled himself from his chair to head towards his own room to prepare. Ryan and Jack each took off in different directions; Ryan to the small armory they had in their level of the base, and Jack towards the kitchen. 

They were all on edge. They had to get Gavin back.


	7. Turnabout, Part one

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm actually about to move, not too sure how long it'll take me to get the next chapter out but I love your comments! Let me know how you all feel about Jeremy! (Also I swear I'll find a beta some day who is willing to put up with me so my work isn't so grammatically incorrect...maybe....hahaha...)

Jeremy Dooley had never expected to lead a life of crime. 

He was born and raised in Boston and had lived a fairly simple life as a youth; had been the star of his high school gymnastics team, had made his mother proud by staying out of trouble and getting into a good college. She’d been so proud of him for going off to school- so proud, in fact, that he hadn’t been able to tell her that he’d dropped out half a semester in, or that he had gotten himself involved with the trafficking of drugs on campus. He definitely hadn’t been able to tell her that he had fallen even further into the realm of the unsavory by accidentally overstepping into the Corpirate’s territory- he hadn’t even been the one running the drug ring, but he had been the only one to speak out and own up to who exactly had been trying to push their way into the Corpirate’s business. He’d then been offered two options; join the Corpirate as hired muscle, or meet the same fate as the other runners for The Community. Jeremy hadn’t fancied a long walk off a short pier, and that was that- he was packed up and driven out of Boston, and brought into Los Santos to work 

Which was how he found himself now the caretaker of one of the Corpirate’s hostages, the hacker from the Fake AH Crew. He had tried to stay impartial to the man, spending the first few days offering him a semblance of kindness in hopes that the man would offer the Corpirate the information he wanted with little damage to his person. He should have known that it wouldn’t go that well; the man was extremely loyal to Ramsey, and the Corpirate had no intention of letting him go once he had the information he sought. He’d slowly come to find that he actually enjoyed the strangers company; that he felt bad about being involved with the kidnapping of the rather pleasant young man, let alone the constant torture (both psychological and physical) that the Corpirate was putting him through.

“He’s going to crack soon. No one can take this sort of shit without giving in.” Jeremy’s attention was drawn away from his silent contemplation of the far wall to the man seated at the table with him. Jacob O’Reily was a crass, bitter man; his personality left much to be desired, but Jeremy often found himself working with him and tried his best to stay in his good graces. He leaned back in his chair, eyes on the ceiling as he let out a long sigh, his feet tapping on the ground under his chair as he crossed his arms behind his head. He had given in to his own kind heart almost two days ago now- having reached out to Burnie Burns in an attempt to get in contact with Ramsey in regards to their hostage. He hadn’t known that Burns would jump at the mention of the hacker, nor that he would offer him immunity and protection should he help get him back to his rightful place with his crew. Burns had been adamant that Jeremy would be rewarded for his help; Jeremy had just waved off the promise of money for the protection and the thought of being able to help the young man he’d grown somewhat attached to in the past week. 

“Do you really think that he’s going to crack? Guy’s like Fort Knox, dude.” Jacob cast him a dirty look, and Jeremy raised a brow at the sneer that greeted him. Jacob seemed to hate the hacker more than was really necessary; the other man hadn’t spoke to Jacob in days, and the mere act of ignoring him seemed to drive Jacob madder than when he had been talking back to him previously.

“Of course you’d think that, you fucking idolize the guy. God, he’s so obnoxious, I just want to snap his fucking neck. What the hell is with his fucking words? Half the shit he says is nonsense!” Jeremy snorted, shaking his head as he let his gaze travel along the lights to rest on the window leading out of the cafeteria area of the base. It was a fairly large room for the size of the staff residing in the base; twelve hired hands, the Corpirate and their little caged bird. The base itself was only half restored, many of the rooms converted into small offices or meeting rooms, along with the small row of cells to hold hostages. The Corpirate had a small team working security- four of the twelve hired mercs, none of them specializing in the surveillance side of things. 

“It’s Briticisms, man. Plus, you know, guy’s loyal. He’s not really that bad? I’m pretty sure the Corpirate wants to try and turn him to work with him against Ramsey.” Jacob groaned, reaching to shove Jeremy’s arm and causing the shorter of the two to frown at him as he shifted away from his reach. 

“That fucker’s not going to turn against Ramsey. Guy’s so far up that asshole’s asshole that he’s taken up residence in his colon. I bet he’s being fucked by at least one of them, how else is that idiot still in the Fake AH? He doesn’t exactly scream ‘criminal mastermind’, Dooley. He’s more the ‘imported twink’ type.” Jeremy frowned, turning his gaze from the window to the man beside him as Jacob let out a barking laugh. 

“I don’t...think that’s right? He’s clearly got to have some sort of talent, or else the boss wouldn’t be so interested in trying to brainwash him into working for him.” It was true; in the past few days, the Corpirate had spent more time than not having the two of them drag the young man from his cell into the interrogation room, locking them out for hours on end. They’d been present for a few of the harsher sessions, times when the boss would want to torture the man for information rather than try to work him into siding with him, and Jeremy would be the first to admit that the hacker was holding up much better than expected under the circumstances. 

“Yeah, talent at sucking cock probably. God, Dooley, get off the guy’s dick. He’s an asshole and annoying as fuck.” Jeremy’s gaze moved from Jacob’s face to the fist he was making on the table, and he let out a soft scoff as he shook his head. 

“Man, what the hell did he do to get you so pissed off? He’s usually pretty quiet when we’re in there.” Jacob sneered, slamming his hand onto the table as he turned his body to Jeremy. He looked, Jeremy noted, like the sorry mixture of a rat and a pissed off chihuahua; all snarl and teeth but still not overly threatening. 

“He thinks he’s better than us! He thinks his crew is special, like they actually fucking care about him! What’s so special about him? Nothing! A pretty fucking face and an accent, that’s about it. It pisses me off, the way he talks about them!” Jeremy could feel the anger radiating off of the other man, and he held his hands up in a placating manner as he gave a weak chuckle. 

“Whoa, alright. Chill out dude. I get it, he pisses you off. Shit.” He glanced at the clock, moving to pull himself from his seat as he gave a stretch. “Look, I have to go bring Mr. Personality his lunch. Why don’t you go see if Anderson is down in the conference room, get her to go over the drug run again. You missed the meeting this morning, there’s been a few changes.” Jacob grunted, and Jeremy took off to the kitchen to grab the tray of food prepared for their ‘guest’ before slipping out into the hallway to make his way down to the only cell being used currently. The hallway light was off, and was meant to stay off for the moment- they were in a rotating cycle of light off, siren, light on that the Corpirate had stated would ‘loosen the boy’s tongue’- so far, Jeremy had only noticed that it was only loosening the man’s grip on reality. A week of little sleep, flashing lights and blaring siren’s had taken a very clear toll on the man, and as Jeremy entered the small room he couldn’t help but note that the hacker had somehow managed to pull the mattress off the cot, pulling it against the wall in a sort of tent against the noise and light outside the room. Jeremy didn’t see the man, but the chains led to the small hole between the wall and the mattress and there was a soft sniffling coming from behind the stained padding. Placing the tray on the now empty cot frame, he moved to kneel beside the little makeshift fort. Peering in, he frowned as he spotted the hacker curled up into himself, his face pressed into his knees. 

“They’re coming for me.” Jeremy jumped slightly at the sudden voice, blinking in the darkness as he shifted to lean against the wall some. Being smaller than most, he found it easier to crawl slightly into the small hole caused by the leaning mattress, trying not to move too suddenly so as not to startle the man. 

“I know they are. They’re coming in two days.” Jeremy’s words caused the man to look up sharply, and he lowered his voice more as he shifted a bit closer. “Lindsay’s going to let me know when they’re outside, and then I’m going to come in here and get these chains off of you. I can’t do it before they get here, and I’ll have to leave as soon as I do so suspicions aren’t raised, but I’m going to make sure that you can get out as soon as they come. Once they break in, Corpirate’s most likely going to lock you in here; I won’t be far, but I’ll have to guide your crew through to you from outside so I can’t be here with you while it’s all going down. I’ll only be able to leave you something small to protect yourself; a knife, probably.” The man was staring at him, as though he wasn’t sure if he should believe the words being spoken to him. 

“You’re...wait, what? They’re...tomorrow? And you’re helping them?” Jeremy nodded, his cheeks becoming warm as the man moved closer to him to attempt to see his face better in the darkness. Even through the puckering cuts and mottled, blue and green bruising he had an attractive face, the sort that would probably pull Jeremy in at a bar and have him offering him a drink or two. 

“Yeah. I got in contact with Burnie Burns? He’s offered me protection for me to help get you out. I mean I’d have done it anyways…” He trailed off, a little embarrassed that he was so ready to sell out his boss for a pretty face and a few friendly words. But he couldn’t bring himself to regret it as the man practically fell into his arms, sniffling as he pressed his face into Jeremy’s shoulder. 

“Thank you. Burnie’s going to protect you, he’s good at that. Thank you Jeremy.” he paused a moment, taking a few slow breaths as he tried to steady himself before speaking again, his words muffled slightly in Jeremy’s shirt. “It’s Gavin. My name’s Gavin.” Jeremy wrapped an arm around Gavin gingerly, pleased to finally have a name to place with the prisoner. Even when talking with Burns and Lindsay, they had referred to Gavin as ‘The Hacker’, probably to protect his identity until Gavin was ready to share. 

“I’m sorry it took so long. The Corpirate...I know he’s not a good person. And from what I’ve heard, your crew...Ramsey’s as good as it gets in our line of work. People like working for him, it’s not about money. I want...I want to be a part of that. It’s too late for me to get out of all this but...but at least I know that with you guys I’d be less likely to hurt innocents.” It had been weighing heavily on his mind; the Corpirate didn’t care who was injured in his heists, whereas Ramsey’s crew seemed to try to keep collateral damage and innocent bystanders to a minimum. 

“Geoff’s lovely.” Gavin’s words are soft, a little lisped as his head rolls slightly to press a cheek to Jeremy’s shoulder, the shorter of the two frowning as he shifted to hold Gavin up better. He could feel the fever rolling off the older man’s skin, the rest of his body chilled from the cool air in the cell. 

“Are you going to be able to defend yourself if you need to tomorrow?” Jeremy asked, concern in his voice as he tried to prop Gavin up better. It was a concern he had been rolling over in his mind since he had gotten the okay from the Fake AH Crew to have their plan put into action the next day. Gavin was weakened from the week of capture, having little to no sleep and hours of torture under his belt, Jeremy had been wondering if he’d even be fit to get himself out of the cell should the opportunity for him to leave on his own arise. Gavin gave a small nod, his body slumping against Jeremy’s as the guard moved to slip back out of the little hiding spot. “I want you to be careful around Jacob. He’s got it out for you, and I have to go send some information to Burnie before I leave tonight...try to just stay in here.” He didn’t think it would be much of a problem, not with how weak Gavin seemed to be currently. 

“Stay here. I can do that.” Gavin gave a weak chuckle as he leant against the wall, watching Jeremy as he nodded and left. Stepping outside of the room, Jeremy let out a long sigh before heading off towards the conference room, where he was to meet back up with Jacob. 

“Less than 24 hours. I can do this.”


	8. Turnabout, Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there might be a slight pause between this chapter and the next as my moving day is fast approaching, and if that happens I encourage people to hit me up on my tumblr ( eternalscreamsofgavinfree ) if you wanna chat about some fahc head canons or just chit chat about how this chapter is meant to ruin lives with cuteness between two men who don't have permission to be so adorable.

Gavin watched Jeremy leave, pulling his knees tightly to his chest as he slumped against the wall. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been there; the switch between light and darkness so sporadic that he couldn’t be sure how many days had passed while he’d been trapped in his cell. Everything hurt, and while he had grown use to the pain in his broken hand, the constant siren and lights had been a different sort of torture all on it’s own. Several torture sessions had left him with streaked burns along his arms, a reminder of what damage a car battery attached to a focusing rod could do to soft human skin scattered over his flesh. He’d been lucky in that the Corpirate hadn’t seemed to want to scar him badly, instead aiming for pain instead of permanent damage. The burns were minimal, manageable so long as they didn’t become infected- so far, so good, though it had taken a lot of self control to use the limited amount of water sparingly between drinking and cleaning off the shallow burn wounds. His ribs on his left side were at the least bruised, though he suspected that at least one or two were broken from the incredible pain that shot through him every time he took more than a shallow breath. 

Shifting the mattress against the wall more, he tugged on the chains some to untangle them before crawling his way slowly out of the little hole he’d made. He knew that Jeremy had set down a tray of food, had heard it when the man had settled the metal tray on the metal frame with a soft clank, and as he pulled the tray towards him, he couldn’t help but notice that instead of his usual fare of oatmeal, the bowl contained a stew. Taking the spoon, he stirred the liquid, watching the gentle bob of meat and vegetables with a small smile. Taking a bite, he let out a soft sigh, pleased at the rich taste of the food on his tongue. He refrained from eating too fast, knowing that it would hurt his stomach more if he did, even if he was starving. Slowly shifting from side to side, he slide his way back behind the mattress fort, wincing as the siren suddenly went off again, his hands shaking hard enough to spill most of the bowl atop himself as he dropped it in favor of covering his ears. 

“Stop.” he muttered, squeezing his eyes shut as though it would help block out the sound as it echoed in the empty room. The light was still on, a rare occurrence in the routine they’d fallen into, and the combined power of the light and sound was ten times worse than any previous incidents. “Please, just stop.” His voice was barely a whine, curling into himself as much as his injured ribs would let him as he let out a whimper as the light started flickering on and off. The mattress blocked out the worse of it, but he could still see it out of his peripheral, just inside his line of view. The way it was flickering felt more like the light had a short than someone purposely turning it on and off, the speed almost too fast for his eye to catch properly as his stomach tightened in a way that made him dizzy. He felt his body stiffen, unable to move as his eyes remained glued to what he could see of the flickering light, and he let out a small cry as he felt his muscles betray him, seizing as his vision swam a moment before blacking out. 

Silence. Blackness. Nothing. 

Then, suddenly, he was hearing the siren again, his eyes blinking as he tried to clear his head a moment. It took him several minutes to come back to himself fully, and as he shifted to sit up he shook his head slowly to clear it some. He frowned, shifting to pull himself back to press his back to the wall, trying to figure out exactly what had happened. He thought he’d blacked out, for sure; there was no doubt in his mind there, but he didn’t know what had caused it. His entire body was stiff and the aching pain throughout his muscles and joints was hard to ignore as he checked himself over. He’d bitten his tongue, the coppery slickness of blood in his mouth confirming it as he brought a hand to his lips shakily. Whatever had happened, he knew that it had been caused by the lights, or perhaps the sirens, or maybe his lack of sleep. He didn’t know; he wasn’t a medically trained sort, unlike Jack. 

Jack would know. 

Jack would be coming tomorrow.

The corner of his lips lifted as he remembered Jeremy’s words- his boys would be coming for him tomorrow. They’d get him out, get him home. He hadn’t doubted for a moment that they would come for him, and he knew that his intense loyalty to his crew was the thing that was driving both Rat and the Corpirate up the wall in their attempts to break him. The rodent-esque man hadn’t been all that wrong when he had claimed that it wasn’t normal for someone to hold such loyalty to their crew; Gavin knew that most crew’s didn’t have the sort of bond his did. But that was what made them work, their intense loyalty, their skill sets balancing each other out on the field. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so intune with other people- besides Dan, of course, but Dan, Dan was another matter entirely. 

The sound of footsteps brought him out of his thoughts, shifting to peer from behind the mattress cautiously as both the lights and siren shut off. Darkness greeted him, though he could still hear the approaching footsteps as he tried to let his eyes adjust to the sudden loss of light. He saw nothing, but jumped as his cell door suddenly slammed shut, recoiling back behind the mattress as he tried to control his breathing. Someone was in the room with him; he could hear heavy breathing from near the door, almost as though the person had run all the way down the hall into his room. He remained silent, uncertain as to if the person was friendly or not, waiting. 

“Gavin?” He relaxed slightly at the sound of Jeremy’s voice, though his relief was short lived as the shorter man approached where he was sitting, a knife in his hand. “Gavin, you need to take this now. O’Reilly found out I was giving information to Ramsey...Corpirate’s on a rampage. Come here, let me take off those shackles.” Gavin reached out his arms, noting how shaky Jeremy’s hands seemed as he unlocked the heavy shackles around his wrists. Gavin winced as the metal pulled away from his blistered, bloody skin, but the release from the weight of the heavy metal was fantastic and he rotated his wrists gingerly a moment before taking the knife that was shoved into his hands. 

“What are we going to do?” Gavin’s voice was soft but firm, all fear of the situation pushed down and to the side as he looked to Jeremy for guidance. Jeremy shook his head, running a hand through his hair as he took a glance towards the door. It was then Gavin realized that the other man had a cut across his cheek, bleeding sluggishly, and he reached up to touch it carefully. “Are you hurt anywhere else?” Jeremy stilled under his fingers, turning slightly into the touch before clearing his throat. 

“I’m fine. Didn’t duck quite quick enough when O’Reilly threw a punch is all, bastard has a class ring on. We need to at least get to a safe room, someplace we can hide until Ramsey’s men come tomorrow. There’s a storage room down near the cafeteria, it’s got a little hidden cubby in it. We can hide there until tomorrow.” Gavin frowned, shifting some before attempting to stand up, allowing Jeremy to grasp his arm to pull him up as the smaller man stood. 

“I can’t move fast.” He could barely stay standing; his legs were shaking so badly, it took everything in him to remain stationary while leaning heavily against Jeremy. “Wouldn’t it make more sense for you to get out of here, leave me here for now?” It was the logical choice; Gavin couldn’t run, and he’d be useless in a fight if it came down to it. Jeremy’s best chance at survival would be to leave him here, in his cell, where he was at least somewhat safe if a gun fight started. “If you take me out there while they’re looking for you, we’re both going to get got, love. It just makes more sense for you to go to this room yourself. They aren’t going to kill me. We both know they aren’t going to kill me yet, even if Geoff’s coming tomorrow and they know it. I’m too precious a bargaining tool.” Jeremy watched him a moment, frown weighing on him heavily as he reached to remove his sunglasses to look at Gavin properly. 

“I’m not going to leave you here alone, Gavin. I can’t do that. I’d be signing your fucking death, abandoning you like that.” Gavin flashed him a grin, bloodied teeth and wide eyed as he reached up to place his hands on the other man’s cheeks. 

“It’s not bloody well abandoning me here if I ask you to do it, Jeremy. Please...I want you to be safe, alright? You can’t help them rescue me tomorrow if my inability to keep up gets you killed today. I’ll be alright. I promise.” He tilted the shorter man’s face up, wobbling against him as he pressed a light kiss on the corner of Jeremy’s mouth. “There, now you’ve been blessed by the greater British gods. I’ve lived through a hell of a lot more than this bullshit, Jeremy, I’m not about to get mullard here. And now you’ve got some of my luck too. So just...stay safe.” He released Jeremy’s face, taking a half step back and nearly toppling over as his legs finally gave out from under him. Jeremy caught him, looping an arm around his waist to guide him back to sit against the wall where he had been. Gavin gave him an appreciative nod, reaching for the shackles to loosely place them around his wrists without locking them in place. Jeremy moved to stand, still a bit hesitant, ducking once more to slip his sunglasses onto Gavin’s nose with a small smile. 

“If we’re sharing luck, might as well give you these. I expect to get them back in one piece, alright?” Gavin grinned, giving him a mock salute, and Jeremy took a moment to memorize the look before turning and slipping out the door again, once more leaving Gavin alone. The hacker held his breath a moment as he listened for Jeremy’s footsteps, only exhaling when his footsteps receded and the hall outside was silent once more. He reached up to adjust the glasses on his face, letting his fingers trail over the cool metal of the frames as he tried to keep a careful ear out for anyone moving outside his cell. Shifting to hide the knife behind his back, he settled against the wall once more, willing himself to settle into a semblance of sleep. 

Tomorrow couldn’t come fast enough. And hopefully, Jeremy would stay safe until then.


	9. Guns In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'd like to thank everyone for patiently waiting for the next chapter. I only just now, today, got internet, and obviously the first thing I did was come here to post the next part! As always, shout out to my beta Copper who keeps my ramblings readable!

“This isn’t good enough.”

“What are you talking about, it’s more than good enough, it’s like, the best damn rifle I own. Don’t insult my rifles just because you’re being a dick.” Michael frowned from where he sat on the couch looking over Ray’s rifle, glancing at the other man as he splayed himself over the cushions of the couch. Geoff was sprawled over the armchair that Gavin usually curled up in, snoring softly- he’d been awake all night making arrangements, and had crashed sometime around ten am when Jack and Ryan left to pick up some weaponry downtown. They’d all been working overtime, preparing for their rescue the next day, and at the moment, they were playing the waiting game. Michael had been antsy all morning, insisting on inspecting everyone’s weapons while Ray lounged beside him, trying to calm his nerves as he watched the other man work. The two of them jumped as the penthouse door slammed open, turning to watch as Burnie stormed into the living room to stand over Geoff, who woke with a start as the other man began to yell at him.

“I gave you one fucking job, Ramsey. One fucking job! You said you’d take care of him!” Geoff winced as he pulled himself up to sit properly, rubbing the back of his neck as he watched Burnie’s face turn a spectacular shade of red, his eyes squinting as he hovered over him. “You told me you had this shit handled when I asked you if you wanted some extra hands for the Jefferson Bank job. You told me you were more than capable of handling this. I got you the information you needed, why aren’t we getting Gavin back now?” Michael and Ray shifted silently on the couch behind Burnie, Michael’s eyes firmly on the weapon in his hand while Ray watched Burnie with wide eyes. Neither had seen Burnie truly angry before; the man usually serene in his dealings with them, and never raising his voice. Geoff let out a sigh, holding his hands up as Burnie paused to let him defend himself against his words.

“Look, I know alright. I know what I said Burns, don’t you think I’ve been beating myself up about this entire thing? Shit, I know it’s my fucking fault. You don’t have to break down my door to tell me. Rescues need planning.” Burnie frowned, turning slightly to glance at the door before raising his hand to wave off the comment.

“I didn’t break shit down, Geoff, Lindsey let me in. We’re going to get him tomorrow, right? I want to be in the retrieval crew.” Geoff’s expression hardened and Burnie pointed a finger at him accusingly. “Don’t you even fucking try to tell me no, Ramsey. He was my husband for five years; I’m going to be there.” Geoff’s gaze softened, taking note of how tired Burnie looked- the other man must have been just as frantic as they had been when Gavin had been grabbed, the history between the two men being what it was. He gestured for Burnie to take a seat on the chair next to his, waiting for him to settle before letting out a slow, drawn out breath.

“Michael’s going in first. He’s going to plant some high damage explosives on the tank and in or around where the larger store of the Corpirate’s artillery is. Once he’s clear and blows it, we go in. We have the layouts thanks to your man, we have everything prepared for retrieval...we just need to get Gavin and get out.” Michael made a noise from his spot on the couch, and as he placed Ray’s rifle on the table Geoff shot him a look.

“And kill as many of those bastards as we can, right? They took Gavin, Geoff. We can’t let them think they can get away with it.” Geoff’s body relaxed back against the chair, the two of them having already had this conversation several times before. 

 

“If it doesn’t endanger us or Gavin. I don’t want any risks taken, Michael. We don’t know what sort of shape Gav’s in, or how hard it’ll be to get him out. We do this my way or you sit back once you’ve blown the tank. Are we clear?” Michael gave him a hard glare, standing suddenly and stepping over where Ray had his legs up on the coffee table to make his way towards the patio door.

“Fucking crystal, Geoffrey.” His words were sour as he opened the door and slipped outside, Ray watched him from his spot on the couch and hesitated a moment flicking his gaze to Geoff before getting up to follow Michael as Geoff sighed and turned his attention back to Burnie.

Ray slipped out the door, sliding it closed as he spotted Michael sitting with his feet in the pool, jeans rolled up to his knees and his boots and socks beside him. Moving to plop down next to him cross legged, the sniper shifted to press his shoulder to Michael’s, sitting in silence while he waited for Michael to speak. “How can he be so fucking calm about this? It’s like he’s not even phased that they took Gavin from right under our noses, Ray, like he doesn’t even...like he’s not worried that Gavin’s not even alive right now. We haven’t heard from Burnie’s guy today. What if something happened?” Ray frowned, wrapping an arm around Michael’s waist and resting his chin on the other man’s shoulder.

“You know he’s just as worried about Vav as you are, Michael. He’s just as scared and angry and upset, he just shows it in a different way.” Michael let out a small noise of discontent, and Ray sighed. “We’re all worried. But Gav’s strong. He’s going to be alright. He’s got a friend on the inside too, so maybe he’s doing okay.” Neither of them were able to fully believe Ray’s words; it was easy, when they knew what sort of situation whoever was missing was in. If they had an idea as to what could be happening. But despite all the information Jeremy had been able to provide them, all the pictures of the layout of the warehouse and information about weaponry, they had no idea what sort of shape Gavin was in. Every time they’d received a call from Jeremy, he’d assured them that Gavin was still alive, but alive and okay were not the same thing.

“What if he’s broken when we get him back?” Michael’s words were whispered, a quiet fear that had been gnawing at the back of his mind for days. “What if he’s not Gavin anymore, Ray? Torture changes people….what do we do then?” Ray fell silent, his eyes drifting over the water as a soft wind blew over them. What would they do if Gavin wasn’t the same when all was said and done? How would they handle it? It was a real question, one that Geoff seemed to have been avoiding with all his planning. Everything was so hectic now, caught in the middle of everything and a day out from the rescue, but after it was over, when the dust had settled and they were all home, what then?

“We help him any way we can.” Ryan’s voice startled the both of them, Ray turning to look up at the older man who had appeared from seemingly nowhere. Ryan looked as exhausted with the situation as the rest of them, his eyes dull as he looked out over the pool with a soft sigh. “No matter what, he’s Gavin. We don’t push him, we don’t try to fix him...we just be there for him.” Michael nodded, and Ray reached up to draw Ryan closer, grasping his hand and tugging it until he moved to settle behind the two of them, an arm around both.

“I’m scared, dude. Not of the rescue, but….what if he’s not there? What if he’s…...” Ray trailed off, unable to finish his sentence, wary of jinxing their rescue with what-if’s. Ryan shrugged, placing a gentle kiss to Ray’s temple as Michael settled back against him, his hands moving to hold onto the arm wrapped around his chest.

“Gavin’s alive. Don’t you worry about that. If there are three things that are sure to survive the end of the world, it’s Twinkies, cockroaches, and Gavin-fucking-Free.” The two younger men chuckled some at that, nodding in agreement to Ryan’s words before the three fell silent again, their minds on their missing boyfriend.

“Do you think Geoff will let me be the one to kill the Corpirate?” Ray’s words were quiet, and surprising; usually the youngest preferred to let Geoff or Ryan handle the major kills, the ones where it would be better done with a lot of pain and blood for their own satisfaction. Michael turned slightly to look at him, and the sniper shrugged, leaning into Ryan some more. “I just….how fucking dare he think he can just take one of us and...and to do it right when we get together? Rude. Fucking rude, is what it is, and he needs to learn some manners.” There was a moment of silence before Michaels laughter swelled and he reached to pull Ray into a tight hug.

“Oh my fucking god. Ray. Manners.” Ray grinned, his hands clutching Michael’s shirt as behind them, Ryan chuckled darkly.

“We could see. Although from what I’ve seen, Burnie might beat you to it. He’s pretty livid.” All eyes turned back to where they could see Burnie and Geoff through the patio door, taking in the sight of Burnie sitting with his head in his hands in silence for a moment.

“He’s taking this all pretty hard.” Michael said, turning his gaze to his lap as Ryan hummed in agreement. “Fuck, this is all so fucked up. I just want Gavin back and for all this to be done. We just fucking figured out all our shit, I want to actually...I don’t know, enjoy it.” Ray nodded, and Ryan pulled the two of them close for a minute before moving to stand up.

“Come on. Let’s go grab some chinese.” Ray gave him a look as he took the offered hand to pull himself up, and Michael snorted as he followed suit, Ryan’s lips quirking into a half smile as he looped an arm around both of them.

“You know, I could totally go for some chinese. I’m actually fucking starving.” Ray reached to pat Ryan’s cheek as he spoke, and Ryan chuckled as he gestured for the younger man to lead the way.

“After you, then. Maybe we can get Jack to meet up with us and while we’re at it, see if we can drag Geoff and Burnie along.” The three began to make their way back indoors, the two men in the living room looking up as they entered. “We’re going to go grab some chinese. I think we all need to unwind for a little bit before tomorrow….Do the two of you want to join us?” Ryan gave them each expectant looks, and Burnie chuckled lightly as he nodded his head.

“Well, who am I to turn down an invite from the legendary Vagabond? I could probably use some food. C’mon, Geoff. You’re coming too.” Geoff gave a groan, but shifted to pull himself from his seat with a grunt.

“Does this mean you’re paying?” He asked pointing a finger in Ryan’s direction, but the man in question just snorted as he shrugged. Rolling his eyes, Geoff made his way to one of the bedrooms, disappearing behind the door for a moment before reappearing in some casual clothes.

“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in anything but a suit. We’ve known each other for years, but you’re always in a goddamn suit.” Burnie’s voice was tinged with amusement, and Geoff flipped him off as he gestured for the lads to lead them out. Ryan followed behind, closing the door and locking it before turning to trailing the others silently. Michael and Ray lead them down to the elevator, talking back and forth as they waited for the doors to open.

A distraction would be good for now. Tomorrow was going to come early enough as it was; hopefully his idea would settle everyone down enough to get some rest.


	10. Rescue Part 1

Everything was quiet outside of the little storage room Jeremy had slipped into the previous night, his luck holding out as he curled up behind the small cubby that had once, he assumed, held an electrical box. He was small enough that, though cramped, he could hide in the hole and pull an old filing cabinet in front of it to wait out the night. He had gotten a little bit of sleep, enough that when he woke up he was fairly certain he’d have a cramp in his leg from how long he’d been curled up. He glanced at his phone, frowning as he noted the time; if he was right, Ramsey’s bomb expert should have been tampering with the Corpirate’s tank while the security team was at breakfast. He pulled up his phone, pulling up his text thread with Lindsay. 

 

**< \- Dooley:** **  
** I got found out last night. Things have calmed down, but keep an eye out. Tell Ramsey.

 

**- > Tuggey:**

I’ll let him know. You alright?   
  
**< \- Dooley:**

I’m camping out in a storage closet but yeah I’m alright. I’m worried about O’Reilly getting to Gavin. He already hates him. 

 

**- > Tuggey:**

Shit. I’ll see what I can do. Mogar’s just about to blow the tank, so shit’s about to go down. Keep an eye out. Or an ear I guess.

 

Jeremy sighed, tucking his phone back into his pocket and leaning against the wall as he took a slow breath. He was worried about Gavin, especially since without him there, the hacker would be left to his own devices when all hell broke loose in the next hour. He debated going back for the other man, but decided to stick with the plan and move out when Lindsay gave him the signal that Ramsey’s demoman had blown the tank. Which, looking at his watch, would be soon; he should get into position if he wanted to be ready. Carefully pushing the filing cabinet out of his way, he crawled out of his hiding spot and made his way to the door, cracking it open to peer down the hallway. Things seemed clear, and he slipped out to make his way down the hall carefully as he slipped his gun from his holster, heading towards the little used exit near the guards sleeping rooms. He’d picked his exit route carefully, knowing that while the Corpirate would be looking for him, he wouldn't be smart enough to think that Jeremy wouldn’t have left the premises immediately after being found out. He slipped out the door, closing it firmly behind him as a loud explosion rang out across the grounds. He turned his attention to the pillar of smoke rising over the roof of the warehouse, alerting him to the fact that Ramsey’s men must be on the move. He glanced at his phone - a message from Lindsay. 

 

**- > Tuggey:**

We’re a go. The Boss, Jack and Vagabond are going to be waiting for you near the east wall of the building. 

 

He glanced towards the wall she was talking about, spotting the three mentioned figures before shooting her back a text. 

 

**< \- Dooley:**

Spotted. Thanks, Linds.

 

He made his way to them, stopping just outside their little semi-circle and standing awkwardly as he squinted at them. He recognized the man in the suit with the impressive handlebar moustache as Geoff Ramsey, and the man with the skull mask beside him was none other than the infamous Vagabond. He didn’t outright recognize the bearded man beside Ramsey, but he assumed that must be Jack, who he recalled being the crews get away driver. He watched them for a moment, unsure as to what he should say, and was a bit surprised when the person to speak to him wasn’t Ramsey, but the man in the mask. 

 

“You’re Burnie’s inside man?” His voice was gruff, dark and muffled slightly from the mask, and Jeremy gave a nod, reaching to tip his hat up slightly as he fixed the man with a look. 

 

“Jeremy Dooley. Vagabond, right?” The man nodded, and Jeremy turned his gaze to Ramsey as he cleared his throat. The man looked him over, giving him a nod before turning his attention to the building in front of them. 

  
“Gavin’s in there?” He asked, and Jeremy gave a nod. “Are you coming in with us, or are you going to go with Burnie’s team and take care of the mercs around back?” Jeremy frowned, thinking on it a few minutes before offering his response. 

  
“I’d...like to come with you, if that’s okay. I want to make sure Gavin’s alright. I left him alone there...I’m worried about him.” Ramsey shrugged, and beside him Jack made a noise. 

 

“If you’re coming with us, you do what we say when we say to. Our little friend here won’t hesitate to put a bullet in you if you disobey, and I won’t be able to stop him.” The Vagabond nodded where he stood, and Jeremy shifted away from him slightly as he nodded in agreeance to Ramsey’s words. 

 

“I’ll follow your orders, man. No worries. We should start in; that explosions going to have drawn out a good section of the security team.” As he spoke the words, a shot rang out near them, causing the group to duck and dart for the closest cover they could find behind some stacked boxes. Peering around the stack, Jeremy spotted three of the mercs the Corpirate had on staff near the door that he had exited earlier. He took aim, though before he could get a shot off he watched as all three slid suddenly to the ground, blood splattering across the brick of the building. He noted Ramsey giving a wave to his left, and turned slightly to see who he was gesturing to. He didn’t see anything for a moment, before a pink rifle waved from the roof of the half built warehouse across from them. 

 

“Brownman, our sniper. Alright, let’s head in before anyone else makes their way out.” Jeremy nodded, letting Ramsey lead the way towards the door, darting another glance at where the sniper was before stepping over the body of one of the mercenaries, frowning as he stepped inside and closed the door behind him. Ramsey held up a hand, and Jack handed Jeremy a comm link to slip into his ear as Vagabond checked something on his phone. Ramsey edged his way down the hall, looking around the corner carefully and pulling back as a shot passed him, frowning as he pressed his back to the wall. “Three guards.” Vagabond nodded, and Jeremy edged around Ramsey to peer down the hall carefully. The three guards were familiar faces; two men he had been brought in with originally, and the woman who was in charge of security. He hadn’t really realized how small Corpirate’s team really was until now, but between the three men that they’d already killed and the three in the hall, there were only six more men scattered about. Skeleton crew, mostly, and he was glad for it. He aimed for the woman, taking his shot and pulling back, his bullet hitting her in the shoulder and causing her to drop back around the corner with a curse. He watched as Vagabond swung around the corner, letting three shots fire out before gesturing them out. 

 

“What sort of shitty help did the Corpirate hire?” the masked man asked, gun aimed down the hall still in case more people came. Jeremy gave a small shrug, sliding past him as Ramsey let out a snort, Jack following him out from behind the wall. 

 

“Exactly how many men are we anticipating here, Dooley?” The bearded man asked, checking his gun as Vagabond and Ramsey started down the hall. Jeremy shrugged, following after them as he responded. 

 

“About twelve, plus Corpirate himself. Corpirate doesn’t keep many people in this particular base; it’s sort of a storage facility more than anything. He keeps some arms here, that tank that I’m assuming was blown, and the occasional prisoner or two. So our best bet is to take out whoevers left and then get Gavin.” Jack nodded, pushing forward to peer around the corner with a frown. 

 

“The hallway looks empty.” There was a shout through the earpieces they wore, and Vagabond jumped slightly. 

 

“Ray? You okay?” The man’s voice was tight, and they all listened a moment before the silence was broken by a soft grunt and a sharp cough. 

 

“I think I broke my wrist, got surprised by some d-bag but I took him out. I’m going to head back to the car with Barb and Aaron’s going to take my place. Be careful in there.” Vagabond let out a small sigh of relief before turning back to look at Jeremy, blue eyes peering through the mask. 

 

“Just take us to Gavin. I doubt Corpirate’s still here if he knew we were coming.” Jeremy nodded; he suspected the same thing, to be honest, and he wasn’t sure if O’Reilly would have gone with him or if he was lurking somewhere’s in the warehouse. 

 

“Follow me. We’re not actually that far from the cells, and the last five guards should be scattered about near where he’s being kept. Corpirate wants Gavin alive, so he probably has people with him…” Or he’d taken him, which Jeremy didn’t want to think about. Ramsey nodded, and Jeremy moved to lead the way ahead of him.


	11. Rescue Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the comments on the story, guys! Your words are what keeps me writing. Sorry that these rescue chapters are a bit small; it's actually one giant chapter sort of split into three.

There was a lot of commotion happening outside of Gavin’s cell door. 

He had been sleeping, or what passed as sleeping for him at the time, when he’d heard the explosion outside his wall. It had startled him awake, causing him to jump and his ribs to feel like he’d been stabbed as he rolled onto his back with a gasp. His entire cell room shook with the force of the explosion, and it had to be close by for him to feel the shock wave through the brick wall. It had to mean that his crew was there; and from the flurry of movement outside of his cell, he assumed that they were making their way into the warehouse.  
He stayed at the back of his cell away from where he would be if he still had the shackles on, his hands clutching the knife Jeremy had given him the night before as he watched the shadows outside his room.   
The door was closed; someone had slammed it shut when the explosion had gone off, and he hadn’t made a move to go near it, waiting patiently for someone to open it instead. His room was dark, and he pressed himself into the far corner as he listening to the footsteps outside his cell going up and down the hall. He heard distant gunshots, and then silence. 

“Fuck, I told him we needed more men on site!.” Rat’s voice rang out as the door was shoved open, the man appearing in the light of the doorway a moment before the door was slammed shut again, the moment of light swallowed up by the darkness once more. “Where are you, you little shit?” Gavin watched as the shadow moved towards where the cot was, standing shakily and gripping the knife as he made his way along the wall silently. Rat let out a curse as he followed the line of the chains to empty shackles, kicking the mattress over and growling in frustration as he turned to try and look through the darkness of the room. Gavin used the moment to leap at him, the knife sinking into the other man’s shoulder as he let out a yell of pain.

“I told you they’d be coming for me.” Gavin’s voice was raspy, his legs unsteady, but his grip on the handle of the knife was sure even as Rat lashed out at him. In his opinion he took the fist to his face like a champ, though he took meeting the floor with less grace, and he whimpered as he willed his body to roll out of the way of a foot coming down on him. 

“They’re going to be rescuing a corpse once I’m done with you, I don’t fucking care what the boss says. I’m gunna kill you right now.” Rat’s voice was sharp, and Gavin pulled himself to his feet as he watched the man tug on the knife in his shoulder with a grunt, giving up a moment later when he realized that the blade was stuck. 

“I wouldn’t be sure of that, mate. Looks like you might bleed out before you kill me.” The smirk that graced Gavin’s lips didn’t quite reach his eyes, but it gave the illusion that he was a lot more in control than he felt. Rat moved towards him, reaching for his gun, and Gavin lunged at him, his slight weight enough to knock the man over, the gun skittering away from them as Gavin attempted to press his palm hard enough against Rat’s throat to choke him some. Rat grasped at his hand, using the angle Gavin was leaning on him at to shove his arm to the side, and Gavin let out a yelp as suddenly, their positions were reversed.   
Gavin struggled weakly as Rat’s hand closed around his neck, trying to shove the man off of him as the weight of the other pressed down on his stomach and ribs, causing him to struggle for breath. He was already weak, and as much as he struggled he found it difficult to push the other off him.

“I’m going to choke the fucking air out of you, you little shit. Maybe then you’ll stop your god-fucking-awful talking and stupid ass words that aren’t fucking words. God your voice is so annoying, I can’t fucking stand it.” Rat’s hand tightened on his throat, and Gavin attempted to take in a sharp breath of air with little result. 

He struggled, grabbing at the hand and trying to pull it from his neck as he weakly attempted to roll Rat off of him. “You’ve managed to ruin my entire week, you fucker, just by existing. I hate you so-” The other man squeezed his hand tighter, and Gavin gave a strangled cry and dug his fingers into Rat’s wrist as he leaned closer, snarling. “-so much. I seriously just want to rip your throat out.” Gavin’s struggled slowed some, his eyes unfocused as his hand’s grip loosened slightly, and Rat’s snarl turned into a smirk “That’s right, not so cocky now, are you?” He pulled Gavin up by the grip on his neck, his other hand reaching to grasp Gavin’s chin, turning his face slightly to bring his mouth to the hackers ear. “Admit that you’re just a pretty fucking face. Even if I kill you now, they aren’t going to care. Ramsey’s only going to be upset because he’ll have to find another low grade hacker.” Gavin fell limp, and Rat dropped him, scoffing. “Fucking useless shithead.” He turned to leave, not willing to actually kill the man that the Corpirate had taken such an interest in, but before he could reach the door his leg was grabbed and he tripped. “What the hell?” Gavin let out a gruff growl, driving his elbow into the mans thigh hard before moving up his body, grasping the knife and pulling it hard, the blade catching after moving half an inch and causing Gavin to grunt. 

Pressing his knee hard to Rat’s chest, he ripped the knife out of his shoulder, but was caught off guard when Rat grabbed his wrist. Gavin struggled, the knife waving wildly between the two men as they grappled for control.  
Gavin cried out as Rat pushed him to the ground, the knife dropping beside them as the mercenary straddled Gavin, holding him to the floor. Gavin’s breath caught in his throat as Rat slammed his fist into Gavin’s side, crying out hoarsely as the man repeated the motion several times. 

Gavin stretched his arm out desperately, his fingers barely brushing the handle of the blade as Rat leant over, sneering at him. “Where’s that fucking spunk now? I’m going to kill you and you know what? I’m going to tell your crew that you were a little slut for us during your stay here. Hell, I’m sure they’d believe it if I told them you and Dooley had a little thing, the way he fucking jumped at the chance to turn on us for you. Is that what happened? You sleep with him to get him to turn traitor?” Gavin continued to try and reach the knife, hoping to ignore the words the other man was speaking. “How’s your crew going to take it when they find out you’ve been sleeping around? You’re just a little whore, aren’t you? I bet you bend over for all Ramsey’s men.” Rat’s voice grew louder with each accusation, and Gavin paused in his attempt to reach the knife as Rat reached to slide a hand over Gavin’s chest. “Maybe I should see why they keep you around, huh? See if you’re worth all the effort they’re taking to rescue you?” The hand slid down his stomach and Gavin redoubled his efforts, Rats hand roamed his body as the other man leered at him. Gavin tried to lean up, attempting to headbutt Rat as he growled at the hand trailing over his hip.

“You don’t know anything about me. You don’t know anything about my crew, about who I love, you don’t know anything. You want to know so badly who’s fucking me?” He spat at the other man, causing him to wheel back and giving him enough room to grab the knife and drive it into Rat’s side, causing the man to yell as Gavin twisted the knife as he pulled it out to plunge it into him again. “Not. Fucking. You.” He punctuated each word with a stab to Rats chest before the man toppled off of him, and Gavin crawled to straddle the prone form, still stabbing the knife into the shaking body under him. “Fuck you. Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you-” His words slowly turned into garbled nonsense as he fell further into hysteria, his hand slowing as the body under him stopped moving completely. After a few moments, the knife fell from his hands and he leant forward, his hands on Rat’s still chest as he tried to hold back a sob. He wasn’t sure if it was the stress of a week of being captured, Rat’s words mixed with his own constant insecurities, or a mixture of both, but he moved to crawl off the body, grabbing up his knife and moving to curl up in the corner of the cell, on edge and waiting for the others to come for him. He let himself cry, even as his grasp on the knife tightened, and he watched the door as he tried to stifle his sobs, laying in silence.

“They’re coming. They’re coming.”


	12. Rescue, part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one more chapter to go, friends. But never fear; I already have the sequel started. Are you excited? I sure am!

“All clear.”

Ryan’s words came from around the corner of the hall the others stood in, and Geoff gestured for the others to follow as he moved to enter the hallway Ryan stood in. Jack made a face as he stepped over the body on the floor, shooting Ryan a look. Jeremy winced at the bullet wound between the mans eyes. The masked man was favoring his side, one of the guards having come at him with a steel bat.

“Alright, Dooley. That’s almost all of the hired hands, right? Bring us to Gavin.” Geoff’s voice was soft as he checked his gun, and Jeremy rubbed the back of his neck as he glanced down the hall.

“Alright. I doubt Corpirate’s here any more, since he had to know we’d be more than capable of taking out the few guards he had here. I haven’t seen O’Reilly yet, but if he’s anywhere’s, he’s going to be by Gavin’s cell. Follow me.” The three men followed Jeremy as he lead them down the hall, all with their guns at the ready even though the rooms around them seemed devoid of people. 

“It’s a little weird to just have twelve people on hand, isn’t it?” Jack frowned as he spoke the question, pausing as they reached a set of doors. Jeremy shrugged some, moving to push the doors open slowly as he responded.

“Normally, yeah. But this warehouse isn’t a base of operations or anything. Corpirate just recently purchased it and finished refurbishing it, he didn’t expect anyone to find him out here I think. It’s far enough outside of Los Santos that he probably didn’t think it’d come up on anyone’s radar. He only pulled O’Reilly and I out of his main base probably two, three days before he grabbed Gavin? I don’t think he really planned any of this out. We got the alert that you were hitting up the bank and everything sort of went to shit after that.” Jack nodded as they entered into the cafeteria, carefully making their way through as they kept their guard up.

“How did Gavin look the last time you saw him?” Geoff’s voice was restrained, and Ryan shot him a look as he pressed his back to the wall next to the doors at the opposite end of the cafeteria they had entered. None of the crew had gotten much out of Geoff when they’d left earlier that morning; the man remaining silent on their drive out even with Michael and Ray rambling in their ears the entire way.   
Jeremy rubbed the back of his neck, pushing the door open and taking a look around before speaking, his words were almost nervous as he lead them into the main hallway. 

“He was looking pretty, uh, pretty rough when I left him last night. I mean he was conscious, but Corpirate wasn’t gentle with him. There’s some burns he’s going to need to have taken care of, he’s only had a small bowl of oatmeal in the morning every day, he’s probably dehydrated….and mentally, I don’t know what he’s going to be like. Corpirate’s a big fan of mental torture…” Ryan’s frown was visible under the mask, and Jeremy gestured for the three to follow him down the hallway towards where the man had left Gavin the night before. “Last night, he seemed alright. I mean, as much as someone in his position could be. I promise.” Geoff nodded, and as they approached the end of the hall, they all ducked as a shot rang off.

“What the hell, Dooley, I thought you said that was it?” Geoff glared at the shorter man as he ducked into an empty room, pulling the mercenary with him as another shot rang off. Jeremy made a disgruntled noise, peering around the corner of the doorway to try and judge where the other two had gone. He spotted Jack in the doorway across from them, and slightly behind the man stood Ryan’s terrifying form, poised to shoot as Jack tried to peek around the door frame down the hall to where the shot had come from.

“I said it was almost all of them, Ramsey, not that we’d gotten all of them.” Jeremy let out a curse as another shot passed them, the bullet burying itself in the wooden door frame near Geoff’s head as the older man ducked away from the hallway with a curse. 

“Well there’s nothing we can do about it now, Geoff. Leave the guy alone and lets deal with our issue here first.” Jack’s stern glare from his spot across the hall caused Geoff to snort, but the suited man fell back some as he tried to spot their mysterious shooter.

“Where the hell are they?” Geoff barely flinched as another bullet buried itself in the door frame behind him, his eyes searching for the shooter as across the hall, Ryan slipped from the door to press himself to the wall. From the look of things, the shooter could only see Geoff and Jeremy’s door; meaning he was most likely on the left side of the hall where Jack and Ryan’s door was. Geoff fired a blind shot, hoping to distract the shooter as Ryan crept down the hall, and Jeremy watched as the Vagabond moved swiftly from pressing against the wall to swinging around the corner, firing a shot with impressive speed. 

“All clear.” Geoff nodded as he left the safety of the room, Jack and Jeremy following him as he made his way down the hall to look at the shooter. She was a young woman, probably no older than one of the lads, and Ryan’s shot had been clean between the eyes, the look of shock still on her face. “How much further to Gavin’s room, Dooley?” Jeremy brought his gaze from the body to Ryan before turning his attention down the hall.

“End of the hall, straight down.” He pointed to the door, the others taking in the unremarkable steel and wood door. Geoff pushed past him, determination written across his face as he made his way down the hall, Jack and Ryan following him with guns drawn. Jeremy trailed behind some, keeping an eye on their rear as they moved as a unit. Halfway down the hall, they paused; footsteps were racing down the hall towards them, and the four paused to duck into one of the open doors.

“Guys?” Jack’s shoulders sagged in relief as Michael skidded around the corner, stepping out to greet him as the demoman gave him a smile. “Jesus, I thought I heard you. Took out that tank.” Jack frowned some at the volume of Michael’s voice; while usually loud, the curly haired man usually held some form of decorum while on a mission, knowing when to remain quieter. Jack stepped towards him, lowering his gun some and reaching to touch Michael’s chin, tilting his head slightly as he gave a sigh.

“Just how close were you to that explosion, Michael?” Michael raised a brow at the question, shaking his head some before rubbing at his right ear.

“What? I was a little too close to the explosion, it blew my hearing out some. It’s coming back though. Did you guys find Gav yet?” Jack shook his head, gesturing down the hall to where they were going, and Michael’s brows furrowed as he took in the empty hall.

“He’s down there. We thought you were more mercs or something, making the amount of noise you did. Jesus, I know you don’t particularly like stealth Michael but some day that’s going to get you killed.” Michael rolled his eyes, waving Jack’s concern off and turning towards the door.

“Yeah yeah. I’ll practice stealth later. Let’s go get my boi.” Geoff reached out to place a hand on Michael’s shoulder, stilling him for a moment.

“Michael...go slow. We don’t know what we’ll find in there.” His tone was soft, his face nearly expressionless as though he was steeling himself to find Gavin dead, and Michael glared at him and shrugged the hand off his shoulder.

“He’s in there, Geoff. That’s all that fucking matters.” Geoff’s expression fell, and Michael started towards the door, his steps quick as the others followed behind at a slightly more subdued pace. As they reached the door, they all stopped; no one reached immediately for the handle, as though they all needed a moment to collect themselves before entering. Michael’s hand reached for the door, giving it a light push and watching as it swung open slowly. The room was pitch black, the only light coming from the hallway they stood in, and Geoff took a cautious step around Michael to enter the room, gun at ready just in case. The room smelt of death, and even in the dark Geoff could make out the crumpled form of a body on the floor, the tiles around it blood slicked. His stomach dropped as he slowly approached the body, almost unwilling to focus on it in case the corpse was their missing companion.

“Gavin?” There was a small noise from the corner of the room nearest the door but before Geoff could turn towards it a body threw itself against him, nearly knocking him over as a knife was swung wildly at him. Startled, Geoff raised his gun, but he stilled as beside him, Jack let out a yelp and grabbed at the knife. 

“Gavin! Gavin, it’s us, that’s Geoff. It’s okay, it’s okay.” The bearded man’s voice was calm, almost soothing, but Gavin’s attention merely shifted to trying to punch Geoff into submission, as though the words and familiar voice didn’t register at all. Geoff attempted to restrain the younger man, the others watching as Gavin struggled against Geoff’s hold.

“Gavin. Gavin, boi, it’s us. It’s us.” Michael’s voice broke as he stepped forward, reaching to roughly pull Gavin away from Geoff to wrap strong arms around him. Gavin struggled a moment before stilling, his hands resting on Michael’s chest as he took in the man holding him tight.

“Michael?” His voice was rough, hoarse and dry and sounding painful even to those standing around him, but it was the most beautiful thing Michael had ever heard in that moment. He pulled Gavin closer, nodding against his neck as Gavin hesitantly wrapped his arms around Michael’s neck. “I knew you were coming. I knew you’d come for me.” Gavin sounded on the verge of tears, and Jack stepped forward to press a hand to Gavin’s back, as though making sure the man was real.

“We’ll always come for you, Gavin. Always. Jeremy helped us out, got us to you.” Gavin pulled away from Michael slightly to look around, his eyes landing on Jeremy and a small smile gracing his bloody lips as he took in the sight of the shorter man.

“You made it.” He sounded relieved, and Jeremy chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck, gesturing to Gavin’s face as he shifted from one foot to the other.

“Luck of the Brits helped a lot, I think. Did you loose my glasses?” Gavin shook his head, unclipping them from the elastic of the dirty scrub pants he’d been wearing his entire stay to hand them over to Jeremy.

“Rat cracked them, Jeremy. M’sorry.” Jeremy shook his head, slipping the glasses onto the rim of his hat before reaching out to pat Gavin’s shoulder lightly.

“That’s alright. You can just get me new ones. Did...is that him?” He gestured to the body on the ground, and Gavin seemed to shrink back into Michael’s arms again, nodding as his eyes fell on the corpse.

“I’m not a whore.” The group looked at each other in confusion, but Gavin didn’t elaborate, instead slumping against Michael with a soft whimper as his legs seemed to give out on him. “Can we go home now?”

“Yeah buddy, we can go home now. We’re gunna take a nice little vacation once we drop Dooley here over at one of the safe houses I think. Have us a little time off for recovery. Does that sound good?” Geoff’s voice was a forced cheerful, his eyes still on Gavin as he took in the injuries visible on the man’s skin. Bruises, burns, cuts; it looked like someone had tried to strangle him, and the thought of someone’s hand on his boys neck was enough to boil his blood, but he kept himself restrained for Gavin’s sake. Gavin gave a tired nod, and Ryan stepped forward, handing his gun to Geoff as he scooped Gavin up into his arms. Michael frowned slightly, protective of the younger man now that they had him back, but allowed Ryan to carry him, knowing that it was the older man’s way of making sure Gavin really was there with them, alive. 

“Let’s get the hell out of dodge, then. Jeremy, lead the way.” Jack’s tone held a tiredness to it, his adrenaline slowing down now that they had Gavin back, and Jeremy took point, leading them from the room. Geoff took a moment to pause in the doorway, noting the shackles and the mattress leant against the wall. He frowned, his gaze turning to the body on the floor; with the door opened fully, the light fell on the corpse and he could see the multiple stabs, haphazard as though the person making them had been in a frenzy. He closed the door behind him, a blanket of anger and anxiety falling over him as he turned to follow the others out.

This wasn’t like the other kidnappings that had happened to them. Usually, a kidnapping lasted no more than two, three days tops. A week was too long, too much on all of them. He blamed himself for not being able to find Gavin immediately; hoped that Gavin didn’t blame them, didn’t think they had abandoned him at any point in time during the week. He let the thoughts roll in his head as he followed the group, keeping Gavin in his sights the entire time, unwilling to tear his eyes from the younger man for even a second. 

This was going to take time to come back from. For all of them.


	13. In the End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it guys, last chapter! But never fear, the first chapter of the sequel's already written and there's a few side stories that will come out sporadically. Also look forward to a Lazer Team fic too...(in other news, saw Deadpool and now I sort of want to do a not-quite X-ray and Vav crossover thing. Hmm. Might happen.)

The van was parked outside of their gas station, the one Geoff had insisted on purchasing three years prior when Burnie had brought up the options of legitimate businesses in the syndicate. Ryan and Geoff had disappeared inside, Geoff having said something about picking up some things for their trip outside of the city and Ryan needing to use the washroom while they were stopped. Jack sat just behind the driver’s seat, watching over the back of his and Jeremy’s seat as Ray dabbed at a cut across Gavin’s cheek. The Brit was sandwiched between the two lads, Michael’s arm wrapped around him and pulling him to lean against him as he watched Ray work, Gavin napping between them. It had been quiet on their drive, partly for Gavin’s sake and partly for the rest of them to gather their thoughts, and now that they were taking a short break, Jack took a moment to really look Gavin over. The younger man’s face was quite bruised, cuts scattered over it looking red and swollen and causing Jack to worry that they might be infected. He looked malnourished, his cheeks sunken in some and his torso skinnier than Jack remembered, though the younger man had been rather slim to begin with. Ray moved his hands to take one of Gavin’s wrists, the sniper inspecting the raw, bloody mess that greeted him with a scowl as he glanced at the travel first aid kit they had stored in the van. Jack knew by sight that the wounds caused by the shackles would need more medical care than Ray with a drug store first aid kit could provide. He watched as Ray nervously pulled out some gauze, the younger man giving him a questioning look as he held up the item.

 

“It’s better to just leave it for now, Ray. Caleb’s going to have to flush it when we get to his clinic, and any gauze you put on those wounds is just going to stick.” Ray nodded, and Jack returned his gaze to Gavin, his eyes tracing over the swollen, nearly bruised black mess that was his broken wrist. The bruise centered in an almost ring in the middle of Gavin’s hand, and Jack was familiar enough with the marking to know that it had been made with some sort of hammer. Not having much motion with his hand would probably kill Gavin, and Jack wasn’t looking forward to the next few weeks.

 

“I wish I’d been able to get my hands on the Corpirate.” Michael’s voice was low enough to keep from waking Gavin up, but the edge to it was harsh and Jack shifted to pat the younger man’s knee gently.

 

 

“We’ll get him. We have an inside man here now, after all.” All eyes turned to Jeremy, who offered an awkward sort of smile.

 

“Luckily I know a thing or two about the Corpirate’s hideouts. I uh...I’m really glad I had the opportunity to help you guys. I wasn’t there when Gavin was grabbed but, uh… I know that the Corpirate had plans for him. He never had the intention to kill him, as far as I know. He wanted to turn him over to work for him...but from day one, everyone could see that it wasn’t going to happen. You’ve got a loyal boy there.” Michael bristled at the words, and Jack’s hand tightened on the other man’s knee with a look before turning his attention back to Jeremy.

 

“We’re a close team. Even if it hadn’t been Gavin, we would have come for a crew member.” Jeremy nodded, and Jack let his gaze drift over to Gavin’s sleeping form for a moment in silence. “But because it was Gavin...we’re going to need to take a break. We care about the crew, about the others, but the six of us...it’s not the same.” He fixed Jeremy with a look, as though trying to figure out what exactly the other man was looking to get out of helping Gavin. “We appreciate that you helped rescue him. More than you know, but if you try to hurt us, try to hurt him…” He trailed off, and Jeremy visibly shrank back in his seat.

 

“I swear, I don’t want to hurt him, or you guys. The week I spent taking care of him...I don’t know. That changes a guy, I think.” Michael shot him a suspicious look, and beside him, Gavin stirred. All eyes turned to the injured man, watching as his green eyes slowly opened.

 

“Where are we?” His words were slurred with sleep, and Ray smiled warmly as he reached to brush his fingers against Gavin’s cheek lightly.

 

“We’re just waiting for Geoff and Ryan, we’re at the Gringo.” Gavin blinked, sitting up slightly to look out the window at the building they were parked in front of. He turned a confused expression to Jack, who offered a soft chuckle as he shifted in his seat to face the back better.

 

“Geoff’s picking up some things we need for our trip out to Paradise. We’re going to head out after we stop in at Caleb’s clinic and drop Jeremy here off with Burnie.” Gavin gave a slow nod at Jack’s words, and the older man smiled warmly at him. “How are you feeling?” Gavin gave a small shrug, leaning more into Michael and letting his un-broken hand move to entangle his fingers with Ray’s. Jeremy watched the three in silence, a slight frown on his face as he took in the small touches. Jack noted the look, remaining silent as Gavin made a soft noise of distress, shifting awkwardly. “Does something hurt?” He imagined that most of the Brit must hurt, but Gavin simply shook his head, letting his eyes fall closed again for a moment before he jumped, opening them again to look at Jeremy.

 

“You can stay with the B Team.” Jeremy raised a brow, shooting Jack a look, and Jack shrugged, turning to look at the front of the van with a small smile on his face. “You and Miles would be such lovely friends. You’re both just so lovely.” Ray snickered, and Gavin turned to pout at the other man before reaching to touch Ray’s face with the hand still holding the snipers own. “You’re lovely too, X-Ray.” Ray smiled, turning his face to kiss Gavin’s fingers before guiding his hand back down, patting their joined hands with his sprained one as Michael leant to nuzzle Gavin’s neck.

 

“You’re fucking lovely, asshole. I’m really glad you’re back now. Don’t get kidnapped ever again okay? I’ll kick your ass.” Gavin frowned, pressing his lips to Michael’s temple with a soft hum.

 

“I’ll try my best my little Michael.”

Michael nodded, his arm tightening some around Gavin’s waist as the driver side door opened, Ryan sliding in with a bag full of food.

 

“Hey! Sleeping beauty’s awake. How you feelin’ Gav?” Gavin made a discerning noise, and Ryan stifled a small chuckle as he reached into his bag to pull out a bottle of water, handing it back to Jack to uncap. “I thought you might want some water until we get you home. There are some snacks here for you guys too, for the trip into the city.” He handed back the bag, and Michael opened it to pull out a bag of Doritos. Gavin took the water that Jack offered him, taking a cautious sip before settling back in his seat again.

 

“Thanks, Rye. Is it okay if I just...have a little nap?” The group nodded, and Gavin curled up against Michael, tugging Ray to lean against him as well. “Thanks for rescuing me…” He gave them a small smile, letting his eyes fall close, only to open them a moment later when Geoff entered the van.

 

“Alright, let’s get this show on the road. I want to be at Paradise before its dark out, and we need to still go see Caleb first.” Ryan gave a mock salute, and Geoff turned to look at the others, his focus landing on Gavin after a short moment. “Hey, buddy. We’re going to get Caleb to fix you up and then we’re going to Paradise. Sound good?” Gavin gave a small nod, and Geoff flashed him a thumbs up before turning to talk to Ryan about the route they were going to take to Caleb’s clinic. Gavin settled back again, and the others fell into quiet conversation as the car started and Ryan pulled onto the road. Gavin listened as Ray and Michael discussed the latest DS game Ray had gotten into, Jack and Jeremy’s conversation about Jeremy’s life in Boston nice background noise as he let himself sink into sleep, the first actual good sleep he’d had in a week. He was back now, with the people who loved him; he was safe and going home.

 

He was finally going home


End file.
